| Pirates
explode in 2nd quarter against Troy
For the fourth time in 7 games Prairie’s football game ended at halftime as the Pirates rolled past Troy 48-0 at Cottonwood Friday, October 16. 
Troy received the opening kickoff but were forced to punt after 3 plays. The punt rolled dead at the Troy 46 yard line but since nobody from Troy touched it down, Prairie’s David Sigler picked it up and raced toward the right sideline and took the ball down the sideline for the game’s first touchdown. Tyrell Langston ran in the 2 pointer to make it 8-0. Prairie then got the ball right back on a perfectly executed onside kick. Kicker Andrew Gabica kicked the top of the ball toward the right side and it took a couple of short bounces then made a high bounce over the Troy defenders and Sigler came down with the ball at the Troy 43 yard line. Prairie ran the ball 6 straight time with Tyrell Langston picking up the bulk of the yardage on a 28 yard run with Kyler Shumway and Sigler making the blocks that sprung him. Branden Waller finished off the drive by going into the end zone from the 1. Waller’s kick made the score 15-0. Gabica kicked off again and this time squibbed the ball straight ahead with several Troy players having shots at grabbing the ball but Gabica wound up with it at the Troy 33.  On
that possession Prairie suffered a couple of firsts for the season. Holthaus
was sacked for an 8 yard loss on first down, the first time he’d been sacked
all year.
After a couple of short gains, Prairie faced fourth and 16 at the 39. Holthaus then passed to Sigler out on the right side. Sigler wound up going all the way back across the field before picking up 29 yards and the first down. On the next play though another first happened as the starting offense suffered their first turnover when Troy defenders ripped the ball loose from Devin Schmidt at the 9 yard line. Thanks to a couple of big pass plays Troy was able to move the ball across midfield into Pirate territory before their drive stalled. Prairie stopped them on downs and took over at their own 34. It took Prairie just 4 plays to go 66 yards with 2 passes to Conner Rieman gaining most of the yardage. An 18 yard completion put the ball at the Troy 47 and after a running play was stopped for no gain Holthaus connected with Rieman again down the left sideline at the Troy 30. Rieman raced down the sideline for a 47 yard scoring play. Waller’s kick made it 22-0. Troy went 3 plays and punt on their next possession and Prairie took over at the Troy 47 after a 12 yard punt return by Sigler. Langston went up the middle for 7 yards and on the next play Schmidt came from the left wing and took the handoff and went around right end for 40 yards and another touchdown.. Waller’s kick made it 29-0. Troy got a good kickoff return of 32 yards out to their 40 but again went 3 plays and punt. Prairie took over at their own 38 and took just 1 play to score. Holthaus lofted a pass deep down the right sideline toward Sigler. The ball was underthrown and Sigler had to stop and wait for it. The Troy defender wound up falling down as Sigler caught the pass and it was off to the races for a 62 yard scoring play. Waller again kicked the extra point but was run into on the play and came limping off the field. The 15 yard penalty was assessed on the kickoff as Prairie kicked off from the Troy 45. Gabica executed another onside kick just like the first one he tried and Sigler came up with the ball on the Troy 32. Prairie ran the ball 4 straight times and overcame a holding penalty with a 17 yard run by Langston on third and 10. Schmidt went around left end for 14 yards and was brought down at the 1. Holthaus hit Sigler on a slant pattern from the right side for the touchdown on the next play. The run for the 2-pointer was stopped short and Prairie led 42-0 with 3:47 left in the half. On Troy’s next offensive play, Sigler intercepted the pass attempts at the Prairie 49. The second team offense took over and couldn’t move the ball, forcing a punt. Troy took over at their own 22 following the punt and 2 plays later Sigler came up with his second interception. Sigler intercepted at the Troy 36 and took the ball all the way back for a touchdown. During the play Waller got some payback on the Troy player who roughed him on the extra point try earlier as he laid him out with a block. The pass attempt for the conversion try fell short and Prairie led 48-0 with 57 seconds left. 
With subs on the field on defense Troy went to the pass to move the ball downfield. They completed passes of 17, 46 and 22 yards to move to the Prairie 2 yard line. Justin Schmidt made the touchdown saving tackle at the 2. With only seconds left on the clock Troy gave the ball to the White Pine League’s leading ground gainer, Marshall Williams, to try and get the touchdown and extend the game past halftime. Beau Schlader came up with the tackle at the 1 that kept Williams out of the end zone and ended the game at the half on the 45-point mercy rule. For the game Langston had 63 yards on 7 carries while Schmidt had 47 yards on 4 carries and Waller had 19 yards on 6 carries as Prairie totaled 129 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Holthaus was 6 for 6 passing for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Sigler caught 3 passes for 92 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rieman caught 2 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown and Langston caught 1 pass for 1 yard. Seth Guyer was 0 for 1 passing. Troy was held to 3 yards rushing on 14 attempts as Williams gained just 7 yards on 6 attempts. Troy quarterback Casey Haarr was 7 for 13 passing with 2 interceptions for 140 yards. Williams had 3 catches for 93 yards and Austin Bull had 3 catches for 43 yards. 85 of those passing yards were on Troy’s final drive. Defensively Waller and Devin Schmidt had 6 tackles each while Sigler had 3½ tackles plus 2 interceptions and 2 onside kick recoveries. Rieman and Derek Schaeffer each had 3½ tackles. Langston had 2½ tackles. Gabica had 2 tackles plus a sack and an onside kick recovery. Holthaus, Shumway and Justin Schmidt each had 2 tackles. With their 19th straight win Prairie improves to 7-0 on the season and in the White Pine League. 1 win in their final two games will clinch their second straight WPL title. There next game is this Friday, Oct. 23 at Deary at 7 p.m. Troy 0 0 - 0 Prairie 15 33 -48 P-Sigler 46 punt return (Langston run) 9:55 1st P-Waller 1 run (Waller kick) 7:17 1st P-Rieman 47 pass from Holthaus ( Waller kick) 10:27 2nd P-D. Schmidt 40 run (Waller kick) 8:26 2nd P-Sigler 62 pass from Holthaus (Waller kick) 5:44 2nd P-Sigler 1 pass from Holthaus (run failed) 3:47 2nd P-Sigler 36 interception return (pass failed) 0:57.5 2nd
The PHS Cheerleaders do one of the 200 jumping jacks they did during the game after one of Prairie's touchdowns. Pirates ranked #7 nationally The Prairie football team regained the top spot in the statewide media poll last week after their convincing win over Genesee. They had started the season as the #1 team but fell to #2 behind Oakley in the third week of the poll, mainly because they started play a week later than most schools. After their Genesee win they had also climbed from #21 to #11 in the MaxPreps.com national ranking of non-11 man high school teams. After their win over Troy they have moved up to #7 in the rankings as of Monday, Oct. 19. They trail four 6-man teams from Texas and one 8-man team each from California and Kansas. So I guess you could claim they are the #3 ranked 8-man team in the country. They also stand at first place in the IdahoSports.com Power Rankings. Night Shoot Week 1 results listed We started off the year with a better than expected turnout for season 2009. We had 14 teams sign up and shoot in week 1 of the annual Cottonwood Gun Club Night Shoot. The night looked as though we were going to need rain suits, but slowly Mother Nature granted us a beautiful, dry evening which made for some great scores. Amongst the 14 teams, a few stood out with perfect 25's for score. Roger Riggers of Winchester Gun Club, Lowell Mader of Harman Agency, Neil Walstad and Mark Baune of 3 Ol' Farts & 2 Pups, Clint Riener of Riener's Grocery, and Scott Jungert of City Electric were their teams’ shining stars. Leading in week 1 is NezPerce Construction with 214, Winchester Gun Club and 3 Ol' Farts & 2 Pups second with 209 and Riener's Grocery tight behind with a 205. Great weather made for great scores! Thanks to all who are attending this year and Good Luck! PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2009 11-C.V., there, won 58-8 18-Potlatch, here, won 59-8 25-Timberline, there, won 54-6 9-Genesee, there, won 55-6 16-Troy, here, won 48-0 23-Deary, there 30-Kendrick, here 20-Championship, ISU/BSU, TBA |
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