Pirates beat Timberline
The Prairie football team bounced back from a loss with a 52-6 win over Timberline in their home opener Thursday, September 14 at Cottonwood.
Prairie kicked off to open the game and the ball went out of bounds at the Timberline 45 but was touched by a Timberline player.
Timberline faced a third and 6 and quarterback Korbin Christopherson’s pass went off of Levi Gehring’s back and Levi McElroy wound up making the interception at the Prairie 45 and returned it to the Timberline 44.
Prairie needed 10 plays to cover the 44 yards for their first touchdown. There were 2 incomplete passes with 8 running plays. Quarterback Noah Behler capped off the drive by running a bootleg around right end for 5 yards. The 2-point try failed leaving Prairie with a 6-0 lead.
Prairie tried an onside kick but Timberline recovered at their own 45. A fumbled snap cost them 6 yards on their first play and they wounding up facing fourth and 17 at their own 38. The pass attempt went high and Prairie took over at the Timberline 38.
Gehring burst through the middle on the next play and went all the way to the end zone. Behler ran in the 2-point attempt to five Prairie a 14-0 lead.
Prairie again tried an onside kick and this time Tristian Mader came up with the ball at the Timberline 49 after it bounced off a Timberline defender.
On the next play Behler passed to Bennie Elven on a little flare pattern to the right side and Elven was able to go all the way to the end zone for a 49 yard scoring play. Behler again ran in the 2-pointer for a 22-0 lead with 4:37 still left I the first quarter. Prairie had scored twice within 11 seconds.
Timberline took over at the Prairie 49 and managed to put together their only scoring drive of the game. They picked up 20 yards on a running play to move to the 29. After 2 more suns picked up 4 yards, Christopher passed to Darrin Bonner crossing over the middle and Bonner went 25 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point run was stopped short by the Pirates, making it 22-6.
Each team turned the ball over on downs on their next possessions with Prairie eventually taking over at the Timberline 44. Behler passed to Gehring on the right side for 33 yards. A roughing the passer penalty on the play added 6 more yards and moved the ball to just outside the 5 yard line.
Behler ran a quarterback draw on the next play for 5 yards and another Pirate touchdown. The 2-point try failed as Prairie led 28-6 with 10:37 left in the half.
On Timberline’s next possession Jake Quintal sacked Christopherson for a 10 yard loss that led to a fourth and 16 play from the Timberline 36. Apparently Timberline doesn’t have a punter as they went for it and the pass was incomplete.
Prairie took over at the 36. Behler passed to Blake Bunce for 6 yards then Chris Schumacher gained 18 yards on a run to the right. After an incomplete pass, Behler gained 3 yards on a keeper. On third and 7, Behler rolled out to the right and was rushed. He was able to duck out of a tackle attempt and threw the ball to Schumacher in the end zone for a touchdown. The 2-point try failed with Prairie now leading 34-6 with 6:30 left in the half.
Timberline had the ball for only 1 play after the kickoff as Bunce intercepted Christopherson’s pass at the Timberline 42 and returned it to the 28.
Behler passed to the left to Gehring for a 20 yard gain that set up first and goal at the 8. On the next play Schumacher caught his second touchdown pass. The 2-point run was stopped short but Prairie now led 40-6.
Timberline gave the ball right back as they fumbled on the kickoff return with Gehring recovering at the Timberline 45.
Prairie wasn’t able to moved the ball and gave the ball back to the Spartans after 4 plays.
Timberline was able to move the ball down to the Prairie 29 before turning the ball over on downs at that point.
Behler connected with Gehring for 36 yards on the first play to move to the Timberline 35. The Spartans were called for defensive holding on the next play to move the ball to the 25.
On 2^nd and 9, Behler passed to Gehring for a big gain but all but 14 yards of it was called back on an illegal block that pushed Prairie back to the 20. On the next play Behler passed to a wide open Elven who juggled the ball before pulling it in and going to the end zone for a touchdown. The 2-point try failed but Prairie now led 46-6 with 26 seconds left in the half.
Timberline tried to move the ball and get on the board before halftime but Gehring intercepted at the Prairie 44 on the last play of the half.
The 40 point margin meant the entire second half would be played with a running clock.
Timberline kicked off to start the second half and tried an onside kick but it didn’t go 10 yards and Prairie took over at the Timberline 49. However Prairie gave Timberline the ball on the next play with a fumble that the Spartans recovered at their own 43.
The Spartans put together 4 first downs and had a first and goal at the Prairie 4 yard line. Christopherson fumbled the ball on the next play and Quintal recovered at the 4.
Timberline gave the Pirates 5 yards on an encroachment penalty. Schumacher and Gehring each picked up 3 yards to give Prairie a first down at the 15. Behler then passed deep downfield to Elven for a 45 yard gain to the Timberline 40.
Gehring picked up 13 yards on a run to the left to move the ball to the 27. Gehring then ran a counter back to the left side for 18 more yards to set up first and goal at the 9. On the next play Behler threw a slant pass to the left side to Bunce who scored. Prairie had just put together a 96 yard scoring drive.
The 2-point pass failed making it 52-6 with 10:54 to play.
Timberline’s next possession ended with Gehring making an interception and returning it 11 yards to the Timberline 14.
Prairie gave the ball right back on a fumbled snap. Timberline couldn’t move the ball and turned it back on downs at the 14.
Prairie had the JV offense on the field and they weren’t able to moved the ball and turned the ball back over on downs at the 15.
Timberline picked up 16 yards on 2 runs then Christopherson threw his fifth interception of the game with Gehring making his third interception. Gehring returned the ball 25 yards as the clock ran out.
Gehring had a big game for the Pirates with 82 yards rushing on 8 carries, 4 catches for 103 yards on offense and 3 interceptions and a fumble recovery on defense.
Prairie had 140 yards rushing on 23 attempts despite not having their leading rusher from the first two games, Dylan Uhlenkott, who was in concussion protocol. He suffered the concussion on a kickoff return near the end of the game at Potlatch.
Schumacher added 31 yards on 5 carries and Behler had 29 yards on 7 carries.
Behler completed 13 of 20 passes for 256 yards with no interceptions.
Elven caught 3 passes for 114 yards. SChuacher caught 4 for 24 yards and Bunce caught 2 for 15 yard. JV player Kade Quintal caught 1 pass from Levi McElroy for 0 yards late in the game. McElroy was 1 for 2 for 0 yards.
Timberline had 58 yards rushing on 32 attempts. The Prairie defense stopped Timberline for a loss on 10 of those 32 attempts.
Christopherson completed 7 of 29 passes with 5 interceptions for 62 yards. Bonner caught 2 for 28 and Gavin Christopherson caught 5 for 34 yards.
Prairie is now 2-1 on the season and 1-1 in league play. Their next game will be Homecoming this Friday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
Prairie        22 24 0 6 -52
Timberline    6   0 0 0 -  6
P-Behler 5 run (pass failed) 6:14 1^st
P-Gehring 39 run (Behler run) 4:48 1^st
P-Elven 49 pass from Behler (Behler run) 4:37 1^st
T-Bonner 25 pass from K. Christopherson (run failed) 2:00 1^st
P-Behler 5 run (pass failed) 10:37 2^nd
P-Schumacher 9 pass from Behler (run failed) 6:30 2^nd
P-Schumacher 9 pass from Behler (run failed) 5:37 2^nd
P-Elven 20 pass from Behler (run failed) 0:25.8 2^nd
P-Bunce 9 pass from Behler (pass failed) 10:54 4^th