Pirates
edge Oakley
Owen Anderson came up with two fourth quarter turnovers to help the Prairie football team come from behind to beat Oakley 42-36 in a state semifinal game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow Friday, Nov. 10. The win pits the Pirates against Genesee in the state championship game this Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. ![]() The game didn’t start well for Prairie as Oakley’s Sam Mitton came away with a fumble on a fourth and 1 play by Prairie near midfield and returned it to the 5 yard line. The defense came up huge as Nick Mager, Anderson and Jace Perrin combined to stop Oakley quarterback Chandler Jones on a fourth down run at the 5 yard line. On the second play after stopping the Hornets, Jake Stubbers broke loose for a 54 yard gain around right end to get Prairie into Oakley territory. The Pirates stayed with the running game and Stubbers nearly scored on a third and 6 play from the 12 as he was stopped inside the 1 yard line. Quarterback Spencer Schumacher pushed his way into the end zone on the next play to cap a 10-play, 95-yard scoring drive. Stubbers added the 2-pointer to make it 8-0. It didn’t take Oakley long to tie it though as Jones took the kickoff at the Oakley 17 and ran it all the way back for a touchdown. He then added the 2-pointer to tie the score at 8-8. Oakley’s kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, giving Prairie the ball at their own 20. On a third down and 6 from their own 35, Schumacher connected with Stubbers on a post pattern down the middle for a 65 yard touchdown. Oakley’s defender missed on a diving tackle attempt leaving Stubbers nothing but green Field-Turf to the end zone. Schumacher passed to Anderson for the 2-pointer to make it 16-8. Oakley was forced to punt from their own 29 with Hunter Chaffee returning the punt 20 yards to the Oakley 45. Three plays later Schumacher passed to Caleb McWilliams down the left side and McWilliams went 46 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point try failed leaving Prairie with a 22-8 lead, which is where the score stood as the first quarter ended. Jayce Huling sacked Jones for a 10 yard loss forcing Oakley to punt again with the ball going out of bounds at the Prairie 20. Prairie was unable to move the ball and had to punt. Jones took the punt at the Oakley 45 and returned it to the 1 yard line. He then scored on the next play to cut the lead to 22-14. At this point Oakley had scored 14 points despite having just 9 yards worth of offense. Prairie had to punt again with Oakley taking over at the Prairie. The Hornets moved to the Prairie 30 where a false start penalty set them back and they faced a fourth and 16. Jones ran a keeper but was stop 4 yards shy of the first down with Prairie taking over at their 24. Prairie overcame their own false start penalty with Stubbers picking up 12 yards on a sweep for a first down. Three plays later Schumacher tossed a screen pass to the left to Anderson who weaved his way for a 45 yard gain to the Oakley 13. Three plays later McWilliams scored from the 4 yard line for a 28-14 lead as the 2-point try failed. After getting burned for a touchdown on their first kickoff, Prairie resorted to squibs and onside kicks the rest of the game and their kickoff went out of bounds at the Oakley 44 setting the Hornets up with great field position. Oakley got a big gain on a screen pass for their own to the Prairie 24. Five plays later Jones eluded the pass rush, slipping away from a couple of tackle attempts, to find an open receiver, Jake Pulsipher, for a touchdown. Oakley added the 2-pointer to pull within 28-22 late in the half. That’s where the score stood at halftime. Oakley received the second half kickoff and took over at their own 49 as Chaffee’s squib kickoff went right to one of the front line players. A 40 yard run on the first play by Mitton set Oakley up at the 11 yard line. Oakley moved the ball down to the 1 for a first and goal. The Pirates defense stopped them twice but Mitton pushed through for the tying touchdown on third and goal. Prairie was able to stop the 2-pointer to keep the score tied at 28-28. Prairie was forced to punt and Oakley took over at their own 42. The Hornets put together a 7 play scoring drive with Jones connecting with Kobe Martin for the final 14 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. Jones passed to Max Alves for the 2-pointer to make it 28-36. Prairie came back with their best drive since their last scoring drive as they moved the ball from their own 22 down to the Oakley 16. Prairie faced a fourth and 2 but Schumacher wound up getting sacked for a 12 yard loss. Oakley moved the ball out to the 33 as the third quarter ended. On the first play of the fourth quarter Anderson stripped the ball from Jones near the sideline and took it to the 29 where he was pushed out of bounds. Stubbers went 20 yards around left end to set up a first and goal at the 9. Three plays later Stubbers went up the middle from the 4 for the touchdown. He then beat the defense to the pylon on the left side for the tying 2-point conversion. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Oakley on the 2-point try let Prairie kick off from the Oakley 45. Chaffee pounded the ball into the end zone for a touchback. ![]() Oakley took over at their own 43 but an illegal block on a big gain set them back to the 30. A fumbled pitch cost them another 10 yards back to the 20. On third and 33 from their own 20, Jones rolled out to the right looking to pass downfield. Anderson, a good 6 or 7 yards in front of the intended receiver, was able to leap up and intercept the pass at the 30 and return it to the Oakley 11. An 8 yard run by Stubbers on second and 8, gave Prairie a first and goal at the 1. Schumacher pushed his way into the end zone on the next play to put the Pirates back in front. The 2-point try was stopped short leaving Prairie with a 42-36 lead. Oakley took the short kickoff at their own 42. On fourth and 3 Jones appeared to pick up the first down but a holding penalty set them back to their own 46. On fourth and 15 Jones looked to pass. Huling came in from his right, forcing him to spin away to the left, right into Schumacher who made the sack for a 15 yard loss. Prairie took over at the Oakley 31 and needed to run about 4 minutes off the clock. Facing a fourth and 4 from the 25, Schumacher passed to Mager, who made a great catch for 10 yards and a first down. McWilliams picked up 5 yards and Schumacher 3. McWilliams then appeared to pick up another first down but came up an inch short on the measurement. Schumacher ran a sneak to pick up the first down and then just took a pair of snaps and dropped to a knee to run out the clock. Stubbers wound up with 148 yards rushing on 25 attempts and added 65 yards on 1 pass reception. McWilliams added 55 yards rushing on 15 carries as the Pirates gained 219 yards rushing on 57 carries. Schumacher was 8 for 15 passing for 197 yards. In additions to Stubbers catch mentioned above, Anderson had 2 catches for 53 yards, Mager 2 for 19, Chaffee 2 for 14 and McWilliams 1 for 46. Oakley had 117 yards rushing in 44 attempts led by Mitton with 69 yards on 15 carries. Jones completed 8 of 16 passes with 1 interception for 93 yards. Austin Bedke was 1 for 1 for 12 yards on a pass to Jones. Pulsipher caught 5 passes for 53 yards. Anderson led defensively with 7½ tackles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 interception. Perrin had 6½ tackles. McWilliams had 4 tackles. Stubbers and Mager each had 3½ tackles. Schumacher had 3½ tackles and a sack. Huling had 3 tackles and a sack. Cole Martin had 3 tackles. Carson Schmidt had 2½ tackles. Hayden Uhlenkott had 1 tackle. Prairie takes a 10-1 record into the state championship game. This is their fifth state championship game in the past 10 years but the first in which they were not undefeated. This will be a rematch with a Genesee team that gave them their only loss this season. By the way, the matchup against Oakley was the fifth in the last 10 years, all in the state playoffs, and Prairie is 4-1 in those matchups, 4-0 in the Kibbie Dome. Also, there is little doubt the two best teams are matching up for the title as Prairie beat the District 3 and District 4-5-6 champions to get to the championship game and Genesee beat the 2nd and 3rd place teams from District 4-5-6. Prairie 22 6 0 14 -42 Oakley 8 14 14 0 -36 P-Schumacher 1 run (Stubbers run) 5:54 1st O-Jones 83 kickoff return (Jones run) 5:42 1st P-Stubbers 65 pass from Schumacher (Anderson pass from Schumacher) 3:45 1st P-McWilliams 46 pass from Schumacher (pass failed) 2:03 1st O-Jones 1 run (run failed) 11:36 2nd P-McWilliams 4 run (run failed) 4:21 2nd O-Pulsipher 10 pass from Jones (Alves pass from Jones) 1:46 2nd O-Mitton 1 run (run failed) 9:20 3rd O-Martin 14 pass from Jones (Alves pass from Jones) 5:08 3rd P-Stubbers 4 run (Stubbers run) 10:34 4th P-Schumacher 1 run (run failed) 5:42 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2017 11-Salmon River, here, won 52-34 15-Council, here, 6 p.m., won 60-8 22-C.V.*, there, won 64-28 29-Kamiah*, here, Homecoming, won 38-12 14-Wallace*, there, 2 p.m., won 66-14 20-Potlatch*, here, won by forfeit 2-0 27-Lapwai*, there, won 52-14 10-State Semifinals vs Oakley at the Kibbie Dome, 7 p.m., won 42-36 17-State Championship vs. Genesee at the Kibbie Dome, 7:00 p.m. *League Game |
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