| Pirates
edged by Troy in semifinals
The Prairie football team had their opportunities but turnovers and an injury to starting quarterback Jake Bruner led to a 36-42 loss to Troy in a state semifinal game at Moscow Friday, Nov. 15. 
After the game was over Prairie was awarded a third place trophy. The game started well for the Pirates as Tyler Hankerson forced a fumble when he sacked Troy quarterback Cody Self. Matt Schwartz made the recovery at the Troy 22 yard line. Sticking mostly to the run, Prairie scored 7 plays later on a sneak by Bruner from the 2 yard line. Bruner then passed to Hunter McWilliams for the 2-pointer to give Prairie an 8-0 lead. It was their first lead against Troy since the 2009 season and may have been the first time all year that Troy had been behind. The Pirates got the ball right back when they forced Troy to punt. Mason Dalgliesh returned the punt 41 yards to the Troy 36 where he fumbled but fortunately Lucas Arnzen was there to recover. Prairie was able to move down to the Troy 18 and faced a fourth and 4. Bruner’s pass was intercepted. That ended an opportunity for an early 2 touchdown lead. Troy came right back with a grinding 13 play, 85 yard scoring drive that ended with a 2 yard run by Zach Bafus. Bafus then added the 2-pointer to tie the game early in the second quarter. Prairie came right back as they moved from their own 34 to a first and goal at the Troy 8 yard line. A holding penalty set them back to the 20 and then a fumble gave Troy the ball at their own 16. Prairie appeared to have Troy set to punt again when the Trojans faced third and 10 from the 28 but Kellen Hoskins got behind the Prairie defense and Self hit him with a long pass that turned into a 72 yard touchdown that gave Troy the lead. Schwartz managed to block the try for a kicked extra point to make it 8-14. Prairie took over at their own 32 following the kickoff and 2 plays later faced a third and 2 from the 40. Bruner had to scramble a bit to get away from defenders and meanwhile Rhett Schlader got loose behind the defense and Bruner found him all alone at the Troy 20. From there Schlader could have walked into the end zone he was so wide open. Bruner then passed to Isaiah Shears for the 2-pointer that put Prairie back on top at 16-14. On Troy’s next possession came the big injury of the game. Bruner was helping break up a pass to Hoskins and broke his collarbone. It is the second straight year that Bruner broke his collarbone in the final football game of the season. Prairie forced a punt 2 plays later and Schlader went in at quarterback. Schlader had played only 3 snaps at quarterback all season and doesn’t even get many plays in practice at the position. It showed on that first possession but given the halftime break and some time to warm up at the position he played a great second half.  Prairie
held on to lead 16-14 going into the half and received the second half
kickoff. Dalgliesh returned the ball 21 yards to the Prairie 34.
Schlader’s first play of the second half was a 14 yard run and then he completed a 6 yard pass to Tanner Ross. That seemed to get him going and he took the Pirates down the field mixing run and pass until setting Prairie up with a first and goal at the 9. Schlader then got sacked for an 11 yard loss back to the 20. On the next play Prairie dusted off the Statue of Liberty play made famous by Boise State a few years back as Schlader went back and stuck his arm up as if to throw. Arnzen then took the ball and went around right end for 18 yards to the 2. Calvin Hinkelman pushed up the middle for the touchdown on the next play. Arnzen ran in the 2-pointer to give Prairie a 24-14 lead with 7:36 left in the third quarter. At that point things came apart for the Pirates. Troy needed just 1 play to answer Prairie’s score as Zach Bafus went up the middle for 57 yards. Hankerson tackled Bafus short of the goal line on the 2-point try which kept Prairie in front at 24-20. On Prairie’s first play after the kickoff Schlader’s pass was intercepted by Self who ran the ball back to the Prairie 18. 3 plays later Self passed to Hoskins for a touchdown that gave Troy their first lead since early in the second quarter. Tyler Pearson ran in the 2-pointer to make it 24-28. Disaster struck again for the Pirates as a snap from center never made it back to Schlader and Troy recovered at the Prairie 32. 5 plays later Troy scored their third touchdown with 4½ minutes and managed to turn a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead as Casey Danly and Jake Rowland combined to stop Self’s 2-point try. Prairie wasn’t down though as 3 plays after the ensuing kickoff Schlader completed a little screen pass out to the left to McWilliams. Dakota Wilson wound up getting crushed on the play but it was his block that opened the way for McWilliams who sprinted down the sideline for a 71 yard touchdown. The 2-point try failed as Prairie pulled within 30-34 with 1:59 left in the third quarter. Troy answered with another grinding, nearly all running plays drive but Prairie managed to stop them at the 20 on fourth down, taking over at that point. Two false start penalties hurt the Pirates and they had to punt the ball away. Troy took over at their own 37 and put together their final scoring drive. Hoskins went in from the 12 and Self added the 2-pointer to make it 30-42 with 3:54 left to play. Troy made a short kickoff that Hinkelman picked up at the 45 and returned to the Troy 45. Schlader picked up 12 yards on first down and had a couple of 15 yard pass completions that set up a first and goal at the 5. Shears went back to the quarterback position in the wildcat formation and scored from the 5. The 2-point try failed as Prairie cut the deficit to 36-42 with 2:40 left to play. Everyone in the building knew an onside kick was coming but somehow Prairie was able to come up with it as Self had a chance at the ball but couldn’t handle it as Joseph Halligan recovered at the Troy 38. 
Schlader was only able to complete 1 of 3 pass attempts setting up a fourth and 5. Prairie tried the wildcat with Shears handing off to Arnzen but the play was stopped and Troy took over. Troy ran Bafus 3 straight times picking up just 2 yards and Troy had to punt. Prairie had 1 more chance with 26 seconds left but were at their own 18 with no timeouts left. Schlader completed a 6 yard pass to Shears then had to clock the ball with just 5 seconds left. His final pass attempt fell incomplete as the game ended. Turnovers again killed Prairie’s chance to beat Troy as all 4 Prairie turnovers led to Troy touchdowns and the two deep in Troy territory hurt as they killed chances to score by the Pirates. Prairie picked up 99 yards rushing on 31 attempts with Schlader picking up 29 yards on 9 carries to lead the team. Arnzen had 24 yards on 5 carries and Bruner had 19 yards on 5 carries. Bruner completed 8 of 10 passes for 110 yards with 1 interception. Schlader was 8 for 24 for 141 yards with an interception. Shears caught 5 passes for 46 yards. McWilliams caught 3 for 93. Schlader caught 3 for 72. Arnzen caught 2 for 24. Ross caught 2 for 12 yards and Hinkelman caught 1 for 4 yards. Prairie had 350 total yards. Troy had 259 yards rushing on 53 attempts led by Bafus who had 184 yards on 23 carries. Hoskins added 73 on 11 carries. Other than 1 carry on a fake punt, Prairie kept Self in check as he wound up with a net –13 yards on 11 carries. Self was 4 for 7 passing the ball for 133 yards. Hoskins had 3 catches for 129 yards and Clint Sandquist had 1 for 4 yards. On defense Hankerson played his best game all year as he had 11½ tackles including a sack, with seemingly most of them behind the line of scrimmage. Arnzen had 7 tackles while Danly had 6½ including a sack and a half. Schwartz 5½ plus a fumble recovery. Shears had 5½. Dalgliesh had 5 and half a sack. Hinkelman had 3. Bruner, Schlader and Ross had 2½ each. Halligan had 1 plus an onside kick recovery. Wilson had ½ a tackle. With the loss Prairie ends their season with an 8-3 record. Troy will face Hagerman in a battle of unbeaten teams for the state title. Prairie 8 8 14 6 -36 Troy 0 14 20 8 -42 P-Bruner 2 run (McWilliams pass from Bruner) 7:35 1st T-Bafus 2 run (Bafus run) 10:30 2nd T-Hoskins 72 pass from Self (kick blocked) 4:21 2nd P-Schlader 60 pass from Bruner (Shears pass from Bruner) 3:35 2nd P-Hinkelman 2 run (Arnzen run) 7:36 3rd T-Bafus 57 run (run failed) 7:23 3rd T-Hoskins 20 pass from Self (Pearson run) 5:54 3rd T-Bafus 5 run (run failed) 2:58 3rd P-McWilliams 71 pass from Schlader (pass failed) 1:59 3rd T-Hoskins 12 run (Self run) 3:54 4th P-Shears 5 run (pass failed) 2:40 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2013 SEPTEMBER 13-Genesee*, here, won 56-40 20-Kendrick, here, Homecoming, won 54-8 27-Lapwai*, there, won 64-18 11-Kamiah*, there, won 46-0 18-Lakeside (Plummer), there, won 62-12 25-Troy*, there, lost 28-53 9-State Playoff at Wallace, 2 p.m., won 46-0 15-State Playoff vs. Troy, 7 p.m., Kibbie Dome in Moscow, lost 36-42, end season at 8-3 22or 23-Championship, Troy vs. Hagerman at Pocatello *League game PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2013-14 *indicates league game 12-JV at Grangeville, 6 p.m. 13-Grangeville, here, Idaho County Shootout, 6 p.m. 14-Troy, there* 17-Lapwai, there* 19-Salmon River, here 10-Grangeville, there, JV 5 p.m., V, 8 p.m. (quad with girls team) 11-Nezperce, here 16-Potlatch, here* 18-Genesee, here* 21-C.V., here* 23-Orofino, there 24-Troy, here* 30-Lapwai, here* 3-Orofino, here 4-Potlatch, there* 6-Salmon River, there, 6 p.m. MST 11-C.V., there* 14-Kamiah, here* 17, 18, 21, 26 & 27-District at LCSC March 1-State Play-in game at St. Maries, 6 p.m. March 6-8-State at Caldwell |
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