| Pirates
outlast Lewis County
The Prairie football team spotted Lewis County a 2-touchdown lead then came back to win 40-26 in their  Homecoming
game Friday, Oct. 14 at Cottonwood.
Prairie had to punt on their first possession and it took the Eagles just 1 play to score. They lined up in a spread out formation the Prairie coaches were calling “Boise State.” Jonathon Riggers passed out to Mitch Wemhoff who was lined up behind 3 linemen on the extreme right side of the field and Wemhoff was able to take the ball 74 yards for a touchdown and a quick 0-6 LC lead as the 2-point try failed. The Eagles made a short kickoff that was covered by Torin Dalgliesh at the Prairie 48. The Pirates picked up a couple of first downs but the drive stalled at the LC 30 where they turned the ball over on downs. This time it took the Eagles 3 plays to score with Riggers bursting up the middle and breaking into the clear for a 71 yard scoring run. He added the 2-pointer and Prairie was down 0-14 less than 6 minutes into the game. The Eagles ensuing kickoff went out of bounds at the Prairie 40 and Prairie put together a scoring drive to get back into the game. 7 straight running plays ranging from 2 to 5 yards moved the ball to the LC 38. On the next play Troy Lorentz kept the ball and took off around right end. He was untouched until about the 10 when Riggers tried to make the tackle. Lorentz used a spin move to get out of the tackle and went on in to the end zone for the touchdown. He then ran in the 2-pointer to cut the lead to 8-14. Lewis County moved the ball into Pirate territory on their next possession but the drive stalled at the 34 with Prairie taking over on downs at the 35. Prairie needed 9 plays to go 65 yards for the go-ahead score. Lorentz again had a big play in the drive picking up 28 yards to moved the ball from the LC 39 to the 11. After a 2 yard loss on first down, Justin Schmidt took a pitch around right end for 10 yards down to the 3. On the next play Cody Schumacher then scored the touchdown to tie the game. Lorentz ran the ball around the left side for the 2-pointer that gave Prairie a 16-14 lead. Riggers may have been hurt on the fourth down stop earlier as he sat out the entire second quarter of action as Sawyer Wahl took over at quarterback for the Eagles. Wahl had a 17 yard run on first down but then the Pirates defense stiffened. On fourth and 7 at the Prairie 47, Josh Roeper burst through to sack Wahl for a 5 yard loss as Prairie took over on downs at the LC 48. Schmidt had runs of 16 and 14 yards as Prairie moved down to the LC 20. Lorentz then ran a keeper around the left end for 17 yards to set up first and goal at the 3. On the next play Lorentz ran a quarterback sneak for the touchdown. He then added the 2-pointer to make it 24-14 with 5:26 left in the half. Prairie had an opportunity to increase their lead before the half as Kade Perrin intercepted a pass from Wahl at the LC 31 and returned it 10 yards to the 21. Prairie got down to the 10 yard line but then a missed center-quarterback exchange on third down led to a turnover as Shawn Pfefferkorn recovered for the Eagles at the 16.  A
holding penalty wiped out a huge gain for the Eagles and cost them a chance
to score before halftime.
Riggers was back in the game on LC’s first series of the second half but wasn’t a factor as LC had to punt. Prairie couldn’t move the ball either and punted it back with the Eagles taking over at their own 10. Riggers was back in the offense this time as he picked up 17 yards on a third an long to keep the drive going but a fumble 3 plays later gave Prairie the ball on the LC 31 as Dakota Wilson recovered. A 19 yard run by Lorentz set Prairie up with first and goal at the 5 and on the next play Schumacher went over the right side for the touchdown. This time Schmidt ran in the 2-pointer to give Prairie a 32-14 lead. Riggers had apparently recovered from whatever kept him out of the second quarter on LC’s next possession as he spun out of a tackle near the line of scrimmage and took off for a 59 yard touchdown. The 2-point try failed but the Eagles had cut the lead to 32-20. A holding penalty was called on the extra point try and was assessed on the kickoff. The kicker then nearly missed the ball trying an onside kick and hit it just enough to tip it over off the tee. Since it has to go 10 yards before the kicking team can recover it, Prairie took over at the LC 31 yard line. Prairie was able to move the ball down to the LC 13 but a fumble ended the threat as Riggers recovered at the 3 yard line. LC couldn’t move the ball and were forced to punt. The punt was shanked and went out of bounds only 5 yards downfield from the line of scrimmage at the 12 yard line. A botched first down play set Priarie back to the 17 and their fourth down play came up short at the 3. A false start moved the ball back to the 2 and after an incomplete pass, Riggers again managed to twist and spin his way through the line until breaking into the secondary and wound up going 98 yards for another touchdown. The 2-point try failed leaving the Eagles on the short end of a 32-26 score with the difference being that Prairie had converted all 4 of their 2-point tries while LC had converted just 1 of 4. The kickoff went deep and Levi Lustig had trouble corralling the kick as Prairie wound up starting from their own 17. The Pirates then got just what they needed, a long, time-consuming scoring drive. Prairie kept exclusively to running plays and had to overcome 15 yards worth of penalties as they took 16 plays to go 83 yards for a touchdown. Big plays were a 15 yard run by Lorentz to help overcome a 5-yard false start penalty and a 34 yard run, also by Lorentz, after a 10 yard holding penalty. Schumacher converted a fourth and 2 at the 17 with a 6 yard run and Prairie scored the touchdown on a fourth and 9 play from the 10. On that play Prairie ran the option to the right with Lorentz making the pitch to Schmidt who took the ball into the end zone. Lorentz then passed to McCoy Hale for the 2-pointer to make it 40-26 with 2:46 left on the clock. Prairie had eaten up almost 8 minutes on the drive. LC was called for a personal foul on the 2-point play allowing Prairie to kick off from the LC 45 yard line. Schumacher’s kick went through the end zone for a touchback. 
The Eagles were able to pick up one first down but on the next play the snap went over Riggers’ head and resulted in a 25 yard loss. Schmidt was able to bat away the fourth down pass attempt and Prairie took over and ran out the clock for the win. Lorentz wound up with 170 yards rushing on 16 carries with Justin Schmidt adding 110 yards on 25 carries and Schumacher 57 on 14 carries as the Pirates rolled up 365 yards rushing on 60 attempts. Lorentz was just 2 for 7 passing for 7 yards as Schmidt caught 1 pass for 1 yard and Schumacher 1 for 6 yards. Riggers led the Eagles attack with 256 yards rushing on 15 carries and completed 5 of 10 passes for 121 yards. Wahl was 4 for 8 passing with an interception for 26 yards. The Eagles had 289 yards rushing on 34 attempts and 147 yards passing as they actually outgained the Pirates 372 to 436. Leading in tackles for the Pirates was Tim Fri with 9 tackles and 1½ sacks. Justin Schmidt had 8 tackles. Hale had 4½. Roeper had 4 tackles plus a sack and Garrett Schmidt had 4 tackles and ½ a sack. Wilson had 3½ tackles and a fumble recovery. Lorentz had 3 tackles and a sack. Perrin had 3 tackles and an interception. Seth Chaffee had 3 tackles and Devin Watton had ½ a sack. With the win Prairie goes over .500 for the first time this year at 4-3 both overall and in league play. This week they travel to Kooskia to play C.V. Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. Lewis County 14 0 6 6 -26 Prairie 8 16 8 8 -40 LC-Wemhoff 74 pass from Riggers (pass failed) 10:21 1st LC-Riggers 71 run (Riggers run) 6:22 1st P-Lorentz 38 run (Lorentz run) 3:25 1st P-Schumacher 3 run (Lorentz run) 8:41 2nd P-Lorentz 3 run (Lorentz run) 5:26 2nd P-Schumacher 5 run (J. Schmidt run) 5:04 3rd LC-Riggers 59 run (run failed) 3:29 3rd LC-Riggers 98 run (pass failed) 10:11 4th P-J. Schmidt 10 run (Hale pass from Lorentz) 2:46 4th PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2011 9-Deary, here, won 14-6 16-Potlatch, here, lost 34-46 23-Timberline, there, won 58-8 30-Kendrick, here, lost 6-18 14-Lewis County, here, Homecoming, won 40-26 21-C.V., there 28-Troy, here 11 or 12-Kibbie Dome, TBA 18 or 19-Championship, TBA |
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