Pirates win big at Lapwai
The Prairie football team moved one step closer to clinching another White Pine League Division 1 football title with a 78-22 win at Lapwai Friday, Oct. 9.
If they beat either Genesee or Troy in their final two games, they would clinch a third straight league title and a first round bye in the state playoffs.
Prairie received the opening kickoff with Lane Schumacher covering the short kick at the Prairie 37.
The Pirates needed just 5 plays to score. Cole Schlader passed to John Gehring for 19 yards. Brody Hasselstrom them ran for gains of 9 and 20 yards. T.J. Hibbard picked up 4 then Hasselstrom took a pitch around the left side for 11 yards and a touchdown. Schlader ran in the 2-pointer to make it 8-0.
Lapwai took over after the kickoff at their own 23. A false start set them back 5 yards and a fumbled snap cost them another 7. Facing fourth and 22 from their own 11, Lapwai elected to run a play and quarterback Titus Yearout gained 15  but it wasn’t enough for a first down as Prairie took over at the Lapwai 26.
The Pirates gained 7 yards on a pair of runs then a fumble set them back 5 yards to the 24. On fourth down Schlader completed a pass to Hibbard on the left side for 12 yards and a first down. Hasselstrom then took the back around the right side where Matt Coppernoll and Gehring made some key blocks to spring Hasselstrom for the touchdown. Hibbard ran in the 2-pointer to make it 16-0.
Lapwai picked up a first down on a 20 yard pass play and a penalty against Prairie added another 15 yards to the 30 yard line. A false start, a sack for a 5 yard loss by Dean Johnson and then a fumble that led to a 7 yard loss had Lapwai facing fourth and 27 at the 47.
Yearout went back to pass but Prairie’s pass rush forced him to scramble and he wound up weaving his way through the Prairie defense for a 45 yard gain before being pushed out of bounds at the 2. Yearout scored on the next play and added the 2-pointer to cut the Prairie lead to 16-8.
Schumacher returned the kickoff 15 yards from the Prairie 36 to the Lapwai 49 but a blocking penalty set Prairie back to their own 41.
After an incomplete pass, Hasselstrom picked up 8 yards and Schlader converted the first down with a 3 yard run.
A pass out to Hasselstrom down the left sideline was juggled and caught and then run in for an apparent touchdown but an inadvertent whistle cancelled the play and Prairie was given a do-over.
On third and 6 from the Lapwai 44, Hasselstrom got the touchdown anyway when he took the ball around right end and sprinted 44 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the game. Schlader passed to Gehring for the 2-pointer to make it 24-8.
Lapwai looked like they might come right back as their opened their drive with a 34 yard pass completion to the Prairie 29. A false start and a sack of Yearout by Hasselstrom for an 11 yard loss set them back. 3 straight incompletions later, Prairie took over on downs at the 45.
An intentional grounding penalty set Prairie back and they wound up facing a fourth and 13. A fumbled snap killed the play before it got started and although Hasselstrom recovered, Lapwai took over on downs at the Prairie 31.
The defense rose up and stopped the Wildcats, forcing a turnover on downs at the Prairie 38. Unfortunately during that series Prairie lost Gehring to an apparent knee injury that happened when he and Hasselstrom pushed Yearout out of bounds for a 3 yard loss.
Prairie needed just 1 play to score another touchdown as Schlader ran a keeper and went 62 yards for a touchdown.  The 2-point try failed leaving Prairie with a 30-8 lead.
Prairie scored 1 more time before the end of a first quarter that lasted almost an hour. Lapwai took over after the kickoff at their own 28. 2 incomplete passes, a delay of game penalty and a stop of Yearout for a 7 yard loss by Jesse Cronan had Lapwai facing fourth and 22 from their own 16.
Lapwai, who apparently doesn’t have anyone who can punt, went for it on fourth down and Yearout was rushed forcing his pass to go long.
Prairie took over on downs at the 16 and Hasselstrom scored his third touchdown of the game on the next play. He ran into the middle and did a couple of his patented spins to get out of tackles before breaking free at about the 8 and going into the end zone as the clock ran out on the first quarter. The 2-point try failed as Prairie led 36-8.
Lapwai started at their own 29 and a Hibbard sack of Yearout for a 9 yard loss led to another fourth down play. Yearout’s pass went long and Prairie took over on downs at the Lapwai 37.
Prairie again needed just 1 play to score as Schlader found Dalton Ross open over the middle for a 37 yard scoring pass. Hibbard ran in the 2-pointer to make it 44-8.
Lapwai was able to move the ball on their next possession, picking up a pair of first downs, the second coming at the Prairie 24. On the next play the exchange between Yearout and running back Arreis Bisbee was fumbled with Hasselstrom picking up the ball at the 26 and taking it 74 yards for another Prairie touchdown. Hibbard again ran in the 2-pointer to make it 52-8.
Lapwai put together a scoring drive on their next possession with a 48 yard pass play setting them up at the Prairie 22. A 10 yard completion on third and 9 moved the ball to the 11. 3 plays later Yearout scored from the 5 and then ran in the 2-pointer to make it 52-16.
Lapwai tried an onside kick but Chase Kaschmitter was able to catch the ball at the Prairie 48. A Lapwai substitution penalty moved the ball to the Lapwai 47. Hasselstrom picked up 10 yards up the middle and then Hibbard took the ball up the middle, cut to the left, juked a couple of defenders and wound up going 37 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point try failed leaving the Pirates with a 58-16 lead.
Prairie got the ball right back when Lapwai again went for it on fourth and long from their own 23 and had an incomplete pass. After a 1 yard gain by Travis Alfrey, Schlader ran a keeper around the right side for 22 yards and another touchdown. Cronan ran in the 2-pointer to make it 66-16 with 25 seconds left in the half. That guaranteed the entire second half would be played with a running clock.
Lapwai took the second half kickoff and went 70 yards for their third touchdown of the game. Along the way they converted twice on fourth down before Yearout completed the drive with a 24 yard pass completion. Coppernoll stopped the 2-point run short of the goal line making it 66-22.
The JV offense took over for Prairie and still managed to score in just a few plays. A holding penalty 10 yards in the backfield wound up as a 20 yard loss moving Priarie from the Lapwai 35 back to their own 45. After a 3 yard gain by Trenton Lorentz, Schumacher mad a short pass over the middle to Wyatt Ross who took the ball to the end zone for a 52 yard scoring play on the first play of the fourth quarter. The failed 2-point try made it 72-22.
Lapwai’s second unit came up short on fourth down as Prairie took over at their own 46.
A keeper by Schumacher and a short pass from Schumacher to Noah Behler netted 5 yards. Then Schumacher found Wyatt Ross wide open down the left side for another long touchdown. This one covered 50 yards. That made it 78-22 after the 2-point run came up short.
Lapwai picked up a first down on their next possession then tried a pass with Alfrey making an interception at the 50.
Lorentz picked up a first down with a 32 yard run and Prairie was then able to run out the clock.
Prairie rolled up 306 yards rushing on 28 attempts led by Hasselstrom who had 151 yards on 10 carries. Schlader added 80 yards on 5 carries with Hibbard gaining 39 on 4 carries and Lorentz 35 yards on 2 carries.
Schlader completed 3 of 6 passes for 68 yards while Schumacher was 3 for 3 for 106 yards. Wyatt Ross caught 2 passes for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns. Dalton Ross caught 1 for 37 yards and a touchdown. Gehring caught 1 for 19 yards. Hibbard caught 1 for 12 yards and Behler caught 1 for 4 yards.
Lapwai had 73 yards rushing on 35 attempts and their 3 passers completed 10 of 35 attempts with 1 interception for 150 yards. Yearout had 32 yards on 16 carries with 9 of those carries going for negative yardage. Jalisco Miles added 21 yards on 7 carries. Yearout was 9 for 30 for 140 yards and caught 1 pass for 10 yards.
Kaschmitter led the defense with 6.5 tackles. Cronan had 5 tackles. Johnson and Shane Hanson had 4 tackles each. Hasselstrom had 3 tackles plus a fumble recovery that he returned for a touchdown. Dalton Ross also had 3 tackles. Behler had 2 tackles. Hibbard and Wyatt Ross each had 1 tackle and Alfrey had 0.5 tackles plus an interception. Prairie had 4 sacks in the game. Hasselstrom had 1.5 with Johnson and Hibbard collecting 1 each. Gehring had a costly 0.5 sacks as he was injured on the play.
Prairie is now 5-0 on the season and 4-0 in league play. They won’t be playing on Friday this week as their home finale got pushed to Monday so Genesee could make up a postponed league game. The Pirates will celebrate Senior Night on Monday, Oct. 19 at Cottonwood at 7 p.m.
Prairie 36 30 0 12 -78
Lapwai 8   8 6   0 -22
P-Hasselstrom 11 run (Schlader run) 10:38 1^st
P-Hasselstrom 12 run (Hibbard run) 7:50 1^st
L-Yearout 2 run (Yearout run) 5:44 1^st
P-Hasselstrom 44 run (Gehring pass from Schlader) 4:13 1^st
P-Schlader 62 run (pass failed) 1:04 1^st
P-Hasselstrom 16 run (run failed) 0:00 1^st
P-D. ross 37 pass from Schlader (Hibbard run) 10:01 2^nd
P-Haselstrom 74 fumble return (Hibbard run) 6:16 2^nd
L-Yearout 5 run (Yearout run) 4:29 2^nd
P-Hibbard 37 run (pass failed) 2:55 2^nd
P-Schlader 22 run (Cronan run) 0:25.2 2^nd
L-#21 24 pass from Yearout (run failed) 3:13 3^rd
P-W. Ross 52 pass from Schumacher (run failed) 11:45 4^th
P-W. Ross 50 pass from Schumacher (run failed) 6:36 4^th