| 12-0
State Champions!!
The Prairie football team continued their romp through the state playoffs with a dominating 72-18 win over Valley in the 1A-Division 1 state championship game Friday, Nov. 21 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. 
With a perfect 12-0 record and no win by less than 30 points, if this isn’t the best 8-man team in Idaho history they are at least in the discussion. It was Prairie’s second state championship in 3 championship game appearances. Both of the wins came at the Kibbie Dome. Jake Bruner was a near perfect 17 of 18 passing for 329 yards and was responsible for 6 touchdowns but it was the Pirate defense that turned the game in their favor. Valley took the opening kickoff and marched downfield, picking up a pair of first downs before stalling at the 16 yard line where Mason Dalgliesh tackled Valley wideout Jacob Henry 1 yard shy of a first down on a fourth down pass play. Prairie answered back with a drive of their own with 3 first downs only to get stopped on fourth down at the 12 yard line. Valley took over but was forced to punt with Prairie taking over at their own 29. Hunter McWilliams picked up 2 yards on a run and on the next play he went down the left sideline and with Rhett Schlader pulling the defenders towards the middle of the field, McWilliams was wide open at about the Valley 40 and took the ball the rest of the way for a 69 yard scoring play to give Prairie a 6-0 lead. On Valley’s first play following the kickoff they tried a shovel pass from quarterback Ben Taylor to running back Kaleb Burk. Lucas Arnzen knocked the ball loose while making the tackle and Schlader scooped it up at the 22 and took the fumble in for a touchdown. Bruner passed to Calvin Hinkelman for the 2-pointer to put Prairie up 14-0. On Valley’s next possession they got a 41 yard pass play that put them in Pirate territory at the 23. Prairie stiffened, forcing a fourth down and 9. Prairie got a rush on Taylor from their “Viking” defense where Arnzen moves from nose guard to a defensive end position for a better rush angle. That forced Taylor into a bad pass that Terran Peery intercepted at the 19 yard line. Peery was able to maneuver his way all the way to the end zone for another defensive touchdown, Prairie’s second within a minute and a half of clock time. Bruner passed to Schlader for the 2-pointer to put Prairie up 22-0. Valley was able to get on the scoreboard thanks to a 26 yard run by Taylor followed by a 47 yard pass that set the Vikings up on the 3 yard line. Burk scored on the next play to cut the margin to 22-6.  Prairie
answered right back with a 10 play drive that featured 8 running plays
and Bruner’s only incomplete pass of the game.
Prairie converted a fourth and 4 at the Valley 39 as Bruner rolled out left looking to pass then wound up scrambling all the way back around the right side for 11 yards. 5 plays later Bruner exploited the right side for another 11 yard run and a touchdown. He also ran in the 2-pointer to make it 30-6 early in the second quarter. Down by 3 touchdowns Valley went for it on fourth down at their own 21. Tanner Ross got a rush on Taylor forcing a bad pass that was intercepted by Bruner at the 23. 4 plays later Bruner scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2 yard sneak. The 2-point try failed as Prairie took a 36-6 lead. Valley’s next possession ended in another turnover. This time it was a fumble that Ross came up with at the Prairie 30. On the next play Bruner found Schlader side open down the left side and Schlader picked up 58 yards before being tackled as a Valley defender was able to get hold of his jersey. Two plays later McWilliams went around right end for an apparent touchdown but a holding penalty called it back. A 19 yard pass to Hinkelman set Prairie up with first and goal at the 1 and Bruner scored again on the next play. Bruner ran in the 2-pointer to make it 44-6. Valley’s next possession ended with their fourth turnover of the half. Arnzen and Ross got a rush on Taylor and the 6’6” Ross batted 5’8” Taylor’s pass up in the air and Hinkelman came down with it at the Valley 35. Four plays later Bruner scored his fourth rushing touchdown on the final play of the half to put Prairie up 50-6. The Pirates received the second half kickoff and 10 plays to go 57 yards for another touchdown. This time Bruner completed a screen pass to Schlader out to the left with Schlader taking the ball 11 yards for the score. McWilliams ran in the 2-pointer to make it 58-6. On Valley’s first possession of the second half they finally got on the scoreboard gain with a 4-play 60 yard drive. Prairie stopped the 2-point try making it 58-12. Prairie answered right back with another touchdown drive. Schlader was injured on Valley’s 2-point try and Arnzen made his first appearance on offense since the senior night game against Kamiah. He caught a pass deep over the middle for 36 yards to set Prairie up at the 15. Prairie overcame a couple of false start penalties before McWilliams scored from 6 yards out to make it 64-12. Valley turned the ball over again on their next possession as Bruner intercepted a fourth down pass at the Prairie 35 and returned it to the Valley 34. 
Prairie went exclusively to the run and took 9 plays before McWilliams punched the ball in from the 1 yard line. Bruner passed to Mason Dalgliesh for the 2-pointer to make it 72-12 and give Prairie the record for most points scored in a championship game. The old mark was 66 by Kendrick in 2000. Valley’s next possession ended in their 7th turnover and 5th interception with Dalgliesh intercepting Taylor’s pass at the Prairie 15. Prairie again stuck to the running game and moved the ball to the Valley 41 before turning the ball over on downs. It was the first time Valley had stopped the Pirate offense since their first possession of the game and this time Prairie was looking more at running time off the clock than scoring. There’s no running clock mercy rule in a championship game. Valley took over and put together a scoring drive against Prairie’s backup defense to make it 72-18. On Prairie’s next possession the coaches put all 7 seniors along with Bruner in on offense. After they ran a play a timeout was called and coach Ryan Hasselstrom went out and gave each senior a hug and when the timeout was over subbed them all out. The Pirates rolled up 546 yards of offense with 217 on the ground in 54 attempts. Valley was able to cut down on the big plays in the ground game but couldn’t solve Bruner in the passing game. McWilliams wound up with 102 yards on 26 carries while Bruner had 49 yards on 10 carries. Dalgliesh had 30 yards on 5 carries and Hinkelman had 13 yards on 4 carries. As mentioned earlier Bruner was 17 for 18 for 329 yards with no interceptions. Despite constant double coverage, Schlader still managed to make 7 catches for 115 yards. McWilliams caught 3 for 98 yards. Devin Bruegeman, who benefited from the double coverage on Schlader, caught 3 for 39. Hinkelman caught 3 for 31 and Arnzen 1 for 36. Valley had 352 yards but were killed by 7 turnovers, all of which led to Prairie touchdowns. They had 127 yards rushing on 26 attempts led by Burk with 94 yards on 16 carries. Taylor was 15 for 32 with 5 interceptions for 231 yards passing. Garrett Mussman caught 8 passes for 134 yards. Hinkelman led the defense with 11½ tackles an interception and half a sack. Arnzen had 8 tackles including a forced fumble and half a sack. Peery had 6 tackles and an interception which he returned for a touchdown. Dalgliesh had 4½ tackles and an interception. Schlader had 3 tackles and a fumble recovery which he returned for a touchdown. McWilliams and Brandon Anderson each had 2½ tackles. Jayce Huling had 2 tackles. Bruner had 1½ tackles and 2 interceptions. Bruegeman and Dally Ratcliff each had 1 tackle and Ross had ½ a tackle plus a fumble recovery. Prairie also held Valley to their lowest scoring output of the season. Their previous low had been 32 points in a loss at Raft River. Their only other time under 50 points came in a 36-34 win over Oakley. Valley 6 0 6 6 -18 Prairie 22 28 14 8 -72 P-McWilliams 69 pass from Bruner (run failed) 3:03 1st P-Schlader 22 fumble return (Hinkelman pass from Bruner) 2:49 1st P-Peery 81 interception return (Schlader pass from Bruner) 1:29 1st V-Burk 3 run (pass failed) 0:49 1st P-Bruner 11 run (Bruner run) 9:47 2nd P-Bruner 2 run (run failed) 6:46 2nd P-Bruner 2 run (Bruner run) 2:42 2nd P-Bruner 1 run (run failed) 0:00 2nd P-Schlader 11 pass from Bruner (McWilliams run) 7:20 3rd V-Henry 20 pass from Taylor (run failed) 5:59 3rd P-McWilliams 6 run (pass failed) 4:10 3rd P-McWilliams 1 run (Dalgliesh pass from Bruner) 11:42 4th V-Burk 19 run (pass failed) 3:20 4th
 
The final, filled in state bracket. PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2014 SEPTEMBER 5-Genesee*, there, won 60-20 12-Salmon River, there, 7 p.m. MDT (6 p.m. our time), won 60-6 19-Council, there, 7 p.m. MDT (6 p.m. our time), won 60-8 26-C.V.*, Homecoming, here, won 64-8 OCTOBER 3-Lapwai*, there, won 60-16 10-Troy*, here, won 64-8, clinch playoff berth 17-Potlatch*, there, won 72-18, clinch tie for league title 24-Kamiah*, here, won 48-6 30-State Playoff vs. Wallace at Cottonwood, won 80-26 NOVEMBER 7-State Playoff vs. Oakley at Kibbie Dome, won 50-20 13-State Playoff vs. Kamiah, Kibbie Dome, 7 p.m., won 62-28 21-State Championship, Kibbie Dome, 6 p.m., vs. Valley, won 72-18, State Champions!! *League Game PRAIRIE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BOY’S BASKETBALL 2014-2015 December 4-Grangeville, Away, 4:00 9-Highland, Home, 4:00 11-Timberline, Home, 4:00 18-SPPS/Summit, Away, 4:00 PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2014-15 *indicates league game DECEMBER 9-Moscow, there, 5:30 p.m. 10-JV vs Grangeville, here, 7:30 p.m. 12-Grangeville, there, Idaho County Shootout, V only, 7:30 p.m. 16-Troy, there* 18-Kamiah, here* 19-Genesee, there* 29-30-31-NIC Tourn. at Cd’A, TBA JANUARY 6-Lapwai, here* 9-C.V., there* 15-Potlatch, here*, 5 p.m. 20-Genesee, here* 23-Kamiah, there* 26-Asotin, here, quad, JV 4:30, V, 6:30 27-Grangeville, here 29-Troy, here* FEBRUARY 5-Lapwai, there* 7-C.V., here*, 1 p.m. 11-Moscow, there, 5:30 p.m. 14-Potlatch, there*, 1 p.m. 17, 18, 19, 23, 24 & 27-District at LCSC 26-State Play-In #1 at Wallace 28-State Play-In #2 at Cascade March 5-7-State at Caldwell Below is the Academic Bowl Schedule for Prairie for the 2014-15 school year. High School 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 10-at C.V. Dec. 1-at Summit Jan. 5 or 12-at Grangeville February-Tournaments March 9-at Prairie April 13-at Timberline Junior High 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. Nov. 17-at Grangeville March 17-at Grangeville April 21-at Nezperce |
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