Pirates hold off Potlatch
Dylan Uhlenkott rushed for 350 yards and scored 4 touchdowns to lead the Prairie Pirates to a 46-32 win over Potlatch at Cottonwood Friday, Oct. 11.
The game didn’t start well for the Pirates as Potlatch received the opening kickoff and scored on the second offensive play of the game.
After gaining 3 yards on a first down run, Potlatch quarterback Jay Marshall then tossed a screen pass to the left to Ben Johnson who went 64 yards for a touchdown. Marshall ran in the 2-pointer for a 0-8 lead.
On Prairie’s first offensive play of the game, quarterback Levi McElroy’s pass to Matt Wemhoff was intercepted by Potlatch at the Loggers 35 and returned to the Prairie 41.
Potlatch moved the ball down to the 15 when the drive stalled. A 5 yard loss by Marshall led to a fourth and 12 at the 17. Johnson was then stopped after a 9 yard gain with Uhlenkott making the tackle as Prairie took over on downs at the 8.
A 17 yard pass completion to Uhlenkott was wiped out by a penalty. That led to a punt from the 21.
Potlatch took over at the Prairie 40 and faced a fourth and 7 at the 37. A bad snap led to a 15 yard loss and Prairie took over at the Potlatch 48.
Uhlenkott picked up 6 yards and Chris Schumacher gained 4 for a first down. McElroy picked up 3 then Uhlenkott got rolling. He picked up 16 on a pitch to the right. On the next play Uhlenkott went to the right, reversed his field to the left and went 19 yards for Prairie’s first touchdown. Uhlenkott ran in the 2-pointer to tie the game at 8-8.
Potlatch answered right back with 4 running plays netting 11 yards and a first down before Johnson caught another screen pass and went 48 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point pass fell incomplete leaving Potlatch with an 8-14 lead.
Prairie took over on their own 25 and picked up a couple of first down out to the 50 before going backward. A fumble cost them 6 yards then a holding penalty 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage moved them back to the 30. Another fumble saw them facing fourth down and 35 from their own 25.
Coach Ryan Hasselstrom had previously told Uhlenkott if he was punting and saw an opening to take off with it. We’re sure he wasn’t thinking about needing 35 yards for a first down. However Uhlenkott made it pay off as he wound up going 75 yards for the tying touchdown. The 2-point pass failed leaving the score knotted at 14-14.
Potlatch had a 41 yard pass completion on their ensuing possession as they moved down to the Prairie 12 before Wemhoff and Carter Shears teamed up to stop Marshall for just 1 yard on fourth down and 2.
Prairie took over at their own 11. McElroy gained 3, Uhlenkott 6 and Schumacher 5 for a first down at the 25. Uhlenkott then took a pitch to the right and went 55 yards before being tackled at the Potlatch 20.
A holding penalty set the Pirates back and they wound up facing fourth down at the 27. McElroy’s pass was intercepted at the 2 yard line. Potlatch would have been better served if they had just knocked the pass down.
Potlatch wound up facing a fourth and 5 at the 7 and had to punt. Wemhoff broke through and blocked the punt straight up in the air. Jake Quintal just had to wait for it to come down in his hands in the end zone for a touchdown to give Prairie their first lead of the game with 23 seconds left in the half. Uhlenkott ran in the 2-pointer to give Prairie a 22-14 halftime lead.
Prairie received the second half kickoff but a holding penalty forced them to punt from their own 35. The ball went out of bounds after just 12 yards. Potlatch had an incomplete pass and an illegal shift penalty but Marshall then found Trey Magallon open over the middle for a 52 yard scoring play. Prairie stopped the 2 point run as they held on to a 22-20 lead.
Prairie took over after the kickoff at their own 28. Uhlenkott converted a fourth and 2 with a 12 yard run around right end. Prairie then faced a fourth and 4 at the Potlatch 46 when Uhlenkott again took a pitch to the right and went 46 yards for his third touchdown. McElroy passed to a wide open Wemhoff in the end zone to make it 30-20.
Levi Gehring kicked the ball out of bounds and Prairie was made to kick it again from the 35. This time Potlatch’s return man fumbled at the 30 and Gehring recovered for the Pirates.
McElroy picked up 15 yards to set up a first down at the 15. On fourth and 5 from the 10, Uhlenkott was stopped 1 yard short and Potlatch took over at their own 6.
The defense forced the Loggers to punt from the 10 and Prairie took over at their own 39.
Uhlenkott converted a third and 5 with a 12 yard sweep to the left. After an incomplete pass, McElroy had runs of 12 and 10 yards to move the ball to the Potlatch 22. Schumacher picked up 2 yards and Uhlenkott 6 for third and 2. McElroy ran a sneak for 3 yards for a first down at the 11. McElroy then picked up 6 and a facemask penalty added another 3 yards to the 2 yard line. Schumacher then went up the middle for a touchdown and Uhlenkott added the 2-point run for a 38-20 lead with 8:38 to play.
Potlatch answered back with a 10 play drive that covered 55 yards. Marshall scored on a 1 yard run. The 2-point pass failed, making it 38-26.
Potlatch then tried an onside kick that went off a Prairie player and was recovered by the Loggers at their own 48. They converted on third and 10 twice with pass completions of 21 and 12 yards. After a 4 yard run, a 13 yard completion set up first and goal at the 2.
Marshall was stopped on first down for no gain but scored on the next play. Phil Schwartz knocked down the 2-point pass leaving Prairie with a 38-32 lead with 1:52 to play.
Briggs Rambo recovered Potlatch’s onside kick attempt at the 50. On third and 7 at the Potlatch 47, Uhlenkott broke through the middle and went 47 yards for a Prairie touchdown. McElroy passed to Wemhoff for the 2-pointer for a 46-32 lead.
Gehring then squibbed the kickoff and it banged off a Potlatch player and Wemhoff recovered at the Potlatch 46. Prairie was then able to run out the clock.
Uhlenkott picked up his 350 yards on 26 carries. McElroy added 75 yards on 19 carries as Prairie rolled up 431 yards rushing on 55 attempts.
It was good they had a strong running game as McElroy completed just 2 of 11 passes with 2 interceptions for 19 yards. Schumacher had 1 catch for 13 yards and Gehring had 1 catch for 6 yards.
Potlatch had 70 yards rushing on 39 attempts led by Hunter Redmon who had 45 yards on 11 carries.
Marshall completed 10 of 18 passes for 310 yards. Johnson caught 4 for 146 and Magallon caught 4 for 111.
Defensively Uhlenkott had 11 tackles and 2 assists. Wemhoff had 8 tackles, 3 assists, ½ a sack and 1 onside kick recovery. Quintal had 5 tackles, 4 assists, 1 ½ sacks and 1 catch of a blocked punt for a touchdown. Gehring had 4 tackles and 1 fumble recovery. Schumacher had 4 tackles and 1 assist. Shears had 2 tackles and 2 assists while Schwartz had 2 tackles.
Prairie is now 5-2 on the season and 4-1 in league, good for third place. That puts them in really good shape for a state playoff berth.
This week they will play at Troy on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.
Prairie   8 14 8 16 -46
Potlatch 8   6 6 12 -32
Po-Johnson 64 pass from Marshall (Marshall run) 11:05 1^st
Pr-Uhlenkott 19 run (Uhlenkott run) 0:06.9 1^st
Po-Johnson 48 pass from Marshall (pass failed) 10:35 2^nd
Pr-Uhlenkott 75 run (pass failed) 7:22 2^nd
Pr-Quintal recover of blocked punt in end zone (Uhlenkott run) 0:23.8 2^nd
Po-Magallon 52 pass from Marshall (run failed) 9:30 3^rd
Pr-Uhlenkott 46 run (Wemhoff pass from McElroy) 6:19 3^rd
Pr-Schumacher 2 run (Uhlenkott run) 8:38 4^th
Po-Marshall 1 run (pass failed) 4:15 4^th
Po-Marshall 2 run (pass failed) 1:52 4^th
Pr-Uhlenkott 47 run (Wemhoff pass from McElroy) 0:55.7 4^th
All games at 7 p.m. except indicated
30-Deary, there, won 44-8
  6-vs. Valley at Fruitland, 6:30 p.m. (MST), lost 22-52
13-Lapwai*, here, won 68-14
20-Kamiah*, here, Homecoming, won 50-38
27-Logos*, there, lost 20-62
  3-C.V.*, there , date changed due to lack of officials on Oct. 4, won 54-36
11-Potlatch*, here, won 46-32
18-Troy*, there
25-Kendrick*, here, Senior Night
1 or 2-State First Round at Higher Seed
8 or 9-State Quarterfinals
15 or 23-State Semifinals
22 or 18-State Champ., ISU or BSU
*League  Game
JV games may be added once schools know how many players they will have

21-Lapwai, here, 5 p.m.

All games at 4:30 except as indicated
17-#1 South Prairie at #1 North Kendrick for junior high championship, 5 p.m.