| Pirates
clinch state tournament berth
The Prairie football team clinched their first state tournament berth in 20 years as they pounded out a 46-0 win at Troy Friday, Oct. 17. It was the Pirates fourth straight shutout win and clinched no worse than a second place finish in the White Pine League. 
As impressive as the offense was in rolling up 418 total yards, 358 on the ground, the defense was even more impressive as they completely shut down a high-powered Troy offense holding them to just 19 total yards and only 2 first downs. Troy’s passing game was completely shut down as they completed just 1 of 12 passes for 0 yards. The game started out like it was going to be a defensive struggle both ways. Troy received the opening kickoff and picked up a first down on their first play, a 12 yard run. They wouldn’t get another first down until late in the first half. Prairie didn’t do any better on their first possession despite a 37 yard punt return by David Sigler that set them up near midfield. Prairie was three and out with Troy taking over at their own 27. Troy was forced to punt again and the punt snap sailed over punter George Swanger’s head. Swanger chased the ball down and batted it out of the end zone for a safety giving Prairie a 2-0 lead. Prairie took over after the kickoff at their own 41 and ran 4 consecutive sweeps to the left side with Kyle Daly carrying. Daly picked up 9, 11, 11 and 7 yards. Prairie then ran a counter with Branden Waller going over the right side for 22 yards to set up first and goal at the 9. There the Troy defense stiffened and they forced Prairie to turn the ball over on downs at the 13. Prairie again forced a punt from Troy and took over at the Troy 44. After getting stopped for a loss, Daly broke loose for his longest run of the game as he gained 34 yards on a sweep to the left to the Troy 13. Devin Schmidt subbed in for Daly on the next play and gained 9 yards to the 4. Troy again stiffened inside their own 10 stopping Prairie for no gain on 2 plays. Kyle Holthaus was able to pick up the first down on fourth and 1 and appeared to have scored but the ball was placed about a foot from the goal line. Daly went up the middle on the next play for the score. The 2-point try failed leaving Prairie with an 8-0 lead. Troy didn’t get the chance to punt on their next possession as their first down pass attempt to Nick Garrison, who had killed the Pirates last year with his pass receptions, was intercepted by Sigler who got inside position on the play. The next play had Prairie fans buzzing the rest of the half and not because Daly gained 23 yards on another sweep around left end. No, it was the block that sprung him as tackle Kyler Shumway annihilated defensive end Garrison with a block that took him out of that play and pretty much the next play as well.  Three
more running plays later, Daly scored his second touchdown as he ran another
sweep to the left then cut back to the middle for a 7-yard touchdown run.
The 2-point try again failed with Prairie taking a 14-0 lead.
Prairie scored each of the remaining 3 times they had the ball in the first half while Troy punted 3 times and turned the ball over on downs the other time, although they did manage to pick up their second first down of the game on their final possession of the half. Meanwhile Prairie took over after a short punt at the Timberline 37 and ran the ball 6 straight plays with Holthaus scoring on a quarterback sneak. On the next possession Prairie got their first pass completion of the game. They took over at the Timberline 40 and Holthaus passed deep to Sigler near the goal line. Troy’s defender had inside position on Sigler for the underthrown pass but Sigler leaped and reached over the top of the defender and pulled in the ball and came down at the 2 yard line. Troy’s goal line defense forced Prairie to take 2 plays to go the final 2 yards with Waller scoring up the middle from the 1. Prairie’s fourth score of the quarter came after they took over at their own 40. A first down pass went high then Daly gained 12 yards to the right on a pitchout and followed that with an 18 yard gain on a sweep to the left. Another sweep to the left gained 10 yards but was inches short of a first down. Daly picked up 3 yards on the next play for the first down. Holthaus completed a pass to Sigler for 6 yards and Daly gained 3 more to the left to the 18. On third and 1 Daly ran another sweep to the left and broke free down the sideline for another touchdown. Prairie then converted their first 2-point try of the game as Holthaus passed to a wide open Waller. That made it 34-0 with 1:28 left in the half. Prairie took the opening kickoff of the second half but gave the ball to Troy in great field position as Holthaus threw his first interception of the season. Troy took over at the Prairie 32, the only time in the game they were on the Prairie side of the 50 yard line. The defense made sure the turnover didn’t cost them though as they forced Troy to turn the ball over on downs at the 25. Holthaus passed again on first down and nearly threw another interception. After that Prairie stuck to the running attack and worked the ball down the field as they ran the ball on 12 straight plays before Daly went in from the 15 on a sweep to the right that made it 40-0 with 2:54 left in the third quarter. The defense again forced a Troy punt and Prairie took over at their own 47. Two running plays netted 6 yards. Prairie picked up the first down on their final pass play of the game as Holthaus connected with Waller on a short pass out to the right side and Waller took it 16 yards to the Troy 31. 4 plays later Waller went over from the 1 to end the game on the 45-point mercy rule. Prairie proved they could beat a good team with defense and the running game. Daly provided most of the offense as he gained 265 yards on 31 carries, 190 of those yards on what could be called a Packer sweep to the left side. Anybody who has seen NFL Films footage of Vince Lombardi talking about the Green Bay Packers sweep of the 1960’s “what we need is a seal here, and a seal here and run the ball in the alley” describes the play as Shumway and Waller for the most part took care of the seal blocks while Daly ran in the alley between their blocks. Waller added 57 yards rushing on 13 carries while Schmidt had 32 yards on 5 carries. Holthaus completed just 3 of 10 pass attempts for 60 yards with 1 interception. Troy meanwhile gained 19 yards rushing on 21 attempts. 
Prairie had 22 first downs compared to 2 for Troy. Troy ran only 33 plays in the game compared to 63 for Prairie. Defensively Waller had 7 tackles plus a sack while Daly had 6 tackles and Tyler Forsmann had 5½ tackles. Conner Rieman had 3 tackles and Shumway had 2½ tackles. Sigler had 1½ tackles plus an interception while Cody Miller had 1½ tackles plus a sack. Andy Groom also had 1½ tackles. With the win Prairie improves to 7-0 on the season and 6-0 in league play. This week they’ll face second place Deary, who has just 1 loss, in what amounts to the White Pine League championship game. It will be at Cottonwood Friday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. Prairie 8 26 6 6 -46 Troy 0 0 0 0 - 0 P-Safety, snap over punter’s end through back of the end zone. 7:43 1st P-Daly 1 run (pass failed) 0:43.8 1st P-Daly 7 run (run failed) 11:30 2nd P-Holthaus 1 run (pass failed) 7:17 2nd P-Waller 1 run (run failed) 4:56 2nd P-Daly 18 run (Waller pass from Holthaus) 1:26 2nd P-Daly 15 run (pass failed) 2:54 3rd P-Waller 1 run (no attempt, game over) 10:38 4th Cottonwood Gun Club Night Shoot, week 2 It is Week 2 of the Cottonwood Gun Club Night Shoot with excellent results. We had a new team sign up for our 6 week shoot..Thank You. Well once again we had some blue sky which made for a brisk evening, sticking around 36 degrees. We have a new leader atop our leader board..."Primeland Coop" with 398 birds, followed by "Our Team" from Grangeville closely behind at 396. Not too far behind them is Harman Agency with 387 birds. Congratulations to Brett Arnzen with a "25" from team Winchester Gun Club. PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2008 12-C.V., here, won 60-14 19-Potlatch, there won 56-8 26-Timberline, here, Homecoming, won 50-0 10-Genesee, here, won 52-0 17-Troy, there, won 46-0 24-Deary, here 31-Kendrick, there JV GAMES |
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