Prairie beat Grace 72-36
The Prairie football team used a quick strike offense to overcome their first deficit of the season and win 72-36 over Grace in a state quarterfinal game played at Cottonwood Friday, Nov. 6.
Grace kicked off to start the game and wound up recovering the ball at the Prairie 46.
They then faced a fourth and 10 and their punter, who is also their starting quarterback, Treyson Draper, completed a pass for 28 yards out of punt formation for a first down.
A pass interference penalty against Prairie gave them a first and goal at the 6. On fourth and goal inside the 1, Draper wound up passing for the touchdown to Bray Skinner. The 2-point try failed. As stated earlier it was the first time Prairie had trailed all season and the first time since the Genesee game in 2019, a game they wound up winning 88-6.
Prairie didn’t trail for long though. A penalty on the touchdown play allowed Grace to kickoff from the Prairie 45. The kick went out of bounds. Prairie then benefitted from the kickoff out of bounds rule which doesn’t say the receiving team has the option to get the ball 25 yard from where it’s kicked. It says the 35 yard line, so that’s where Prairie took over. The Pirates needed just 1 play to tie the score as quarterback Cole Schlader passed deep and hit T. J. Hibbard on a fly pattern at about the Grace 25 wit Hibbard completing the 65 yard scoring play. Brody Hasselstrom then gave Prairie the lead when he ran in the 2-point conversion.
Grace had a penalty on the ensuing kickoff that set them back to their own 9 yard line. Draper went back to pass and Prairie’s pass rush got to him with Dean Johnson tackling Draper in the end zone for a safety to give Prairie a 10-6 lead.
Grace then had to kick from their 20. An offside penalty pushed them back to the 15 for another try at the kick. Dalton Ross covered the kick at the Grace 45.
Hasselstrom picked up 7 yards on first down and then it was his turn to get open deep on a pass play as Schlader connected with Hasselstrom for a 38 yard scoring play. Schlader then passed to Dalton Ross for the 2-pointer to make it 18-6. Prairie had scored their 18 points within a span of 47 seconds.
Prairie got the ball right back as Grace faced a third and 6 at their own 44 and then tried another fake punt. This time Prairie was ready and rushed Draper forcing a wild pass as he was being tackled that wound up losing 11 yards. Prairie took over at the Grace 33.
Prairie again needed just 1 play to score as Hibbard burst through the middle of the line and went 33 yards for the touchdown. Schlader added the 2-pointer to make it 26-6.
Grace got a big return on the kickoff that put them in Pirate territory at the 41. 4 incomplete pass later, with Prairie putting on a good pass rush each time, had Prairie taking over on downs at the 41.
This time Prairie needed a whopping 4 plays to score. They stuck to the running game with Hibbard going 11 yards on the first play. Then next 3 runs were all by Hasselstrom who gained 18 and 2 yards and then scored from the 28 on a sweep around right end. The 2-point run came up short as Prairie led 32-6.
That’s where the score stood as the first quarter ended.
Grace took over at their own 27 after the kickoff and faced a fourth and 13 and actually punted the ball away. Prairie took over at their own 35 but fumbled the ball away on their first play.
Grace took over at the Prairie 35 but wound up taking over on downs at the Prairie 42.
Schlader connected with Hibbard on a screen pass to the left that Hibbard took to the end zone. However a penalty 8 yards downfield negated the touchdown and brought the ball back to the Prairie 35.
Hasselstrom had runs of 5 and 8 yards to set up third and 4 at the Prairie 48. On the next play Schlader completed his third pass of the game for his third touchdown as he connected with Dalton Ross at about the 20. Ross was able to slip out of an attempted tackle and go the rest of the way on a 52 yard scoring play. Schlader ran in the 2-pointer to make it 40-6.
On Grace’s next possession they picked up their a first down for the first time since their opening drive but then turned the ball over on downs after Schlader batted away a fourth down pass attempt.
Prairie took over on their own 45. After a run was stopped for no gain and Schlader had his first incompletion as the pass got batted away by the defender, Hasselstrom picked up the first down with an 18 yard sweep to the left. On the next play from the Grace 37, Hasselstrom again ran a sweep to the left then cut back across the field and wound up scoring near the right pylon for his second rushing touchdown and third touchdown overall in the game. The 2-point pass fell incomplete as Prairie took a 46-6 lead.
Grace finally got back on the scoreboard as they put a drive together with the help of another fake punt pass completion for 24 yards. A defensive holding call gave Grace another first down at the 9 yard line and they scored on the next play. Prairie stopped the 2-pointer to make it 46-12.
Prairie took over at their own 34 after the kickoff. After a 4 yard run on a reverse by Dalton Ross and an incomplete pass, Schlader picked up his fourth touchdown pass of the game and Hasselstrom scored his fourth touchdown on a 62 yard catch and run. Schlader ran in the 2-pointer to make it 54-12.
Grace answered with an 85 yard kickoff return by Skinner. Skinner then ran in the 2-pointer to make it 54-20. The last 3 touchdowns had all been scored with less than a minute to go in the half but the scoring wasn’t down.
Dalton Ross returned the kickoff 13 yards to the Prairie 43. On the first play from scrimmage Schlader passed over the middle to Wyatt Ross and after the defensive back whiffed on an attempted tackle, Ross finished off a 57 yard scoring play as the half ended. Hasselstrom ran in the 2-pointer to make it 62-20 at halftime. 4 touchdowns were scored in the final minute of the half.
The entire second half would be played with a running clock.
Prairie kicked off to start the second half with Grace taking over at their 30.
They picked up a first down out to the 44 then got hit with a holding penalty. On the next play a bad snap led to a fumble by Draper with Jesse Cronan making the recovery 24 yards behind the line of scrimmage at the 9 yard line.
2 plays later Hasselstrom fumbled just before crossing the goal line with Grace recovering inside the 1. On the next play Skinner was caught in the end zone for Prairie’s second safety of the game with Hasselstrom and Chase Kaschmitter combining on the tackle. That made it 64-20.
We believe this is the first time ever that Prairie scored twice in the same game on safeties.
Grace kicked off from their 20 with Hasselstrom catching the ball at the Prairie 44. He took the ball 56 yards for another Prairie touchdown. Travis Alfrey ran in the 2-pointer to make it 72-20 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
Grace got another big kickoff return from Skinner with Jesse Cronan finally making the tackle at the Prairie 45 after a 43 yard return.
Grace went backward from there and turned the ball over on downs at their own 43.
The first team offense was on the field for the final two plays of the quarter then the subs took over in the fourth.
An interception on the second play of the fourth quarter gave Grace the ball at the Grace 45.
On fourth and 10 Draper wound up connecting with Skinner for a 55 yard scoring play and then added the 2 pointer to make it 72-28.
They tried an onside kick with Kaschmitter recovering the ball at the Prairie 48. Prairie was forced to punt with Grace taking over at their own 27.
Grace needed just 2 plays to score against the JV defense as Draper completed passes of 15 and then 58 yards to Gage Stoddard. They added the 2-pointer to make it 72-36 with 2:55 left to play.
Prairie was able to convert a fourth and 1 on their next possession with Colton McElroy picking up 2 yards. That enable Prairie to run out the clock.
Prairie picked up 471 yards of offense on just 31 plays while Grace had 189 yards on 57 plays.
The Pirates had 189 yards rushing on 25 attempts led by Hasselstrom who had 133 yards on 12 carries with 2 touchdowns. Hibbard added 49 yards on 3 carries with 1 touchdown.
Schlader completed 6 of 8 pass for 282 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Hasselstrom caught 2 passes for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. Hibbard caught 2 passes for 73 yards and 1 touchdown. Wyatt Ross caught 1 pass for 57 yards and a touchdown. Dalton Ross caught 1 pass for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Grace was held to just 14 yards rushing on 33 attempts. Skinner led the team with 42 yards on 14 carries.
Draper complete 11 of 23 passes for 175 yards. Stoddard caught 7 for 91 yards and Skinner caught 3 for 80 yards.
Dalton Ross led the defense with 7 tackles. Hibbard and Matt Coppernoll each had 4 tackles. Hasselstrom, Schlader and Johnson each had 2 tackles. Cronan had 1 tackle and a fumble recovery. Kaschmitter had 1 tackle.
Prairie is now 8-0 on the season and will play Oakley in the semifinals Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. The winner of that game will play the Raft River-Lighthouse Christian winner at Twin Falls High School with the date and time to be determined.
Prairie 32 28 12   0 -72
Grace   6 14   0 16 -36
G-Skinner 1 pass from Draper (pass failed) 6:10 1st
P-Hibbard 65 pass from Schlader (Hasselstrom run) 5:58 1st
P-Johnson tackled Draper in end zone for a safety 5:48 1st
P-Hasselstrom 38 pass from Schlader (D. Ross pass from Schlader) 5:11 1st
P-Hibbard 33 run (Schlader run) 3:13 1st
P-Hasselstrom 28 run (run failed) 1:31 1st
P-D. Ross 52 pass from Schlader (Schlader run) 8:32 2nd
P-Hasselstrom 37 run (pass failed) 4:57 1st
G-Skinner 9 run (run failed) 0:56.9 2nd
P-Hasselstrom 62 pass from Schlader (Schlader run) 0:32.8 2nd
G-Skinner 85 kickoff return (Skinner run) 0:15.5 2nd
P-W. Ross 57 pass from Schlader (Hasselstrom run) 0:00 2nd
P-Hasselstrom, Kaschmitter tackle Skinner in end zone for a safety 5:42 3rd
P-Hasselstrom 56 kickoff return (Alfrey run) 5:25 3rd
G-Skinner 55 pass from Draper (Jorgensen pass from Draper) 7:04 4th
G-Stoddard 58 pass from Draper (Draper run) 2:51 4th