Nov. 7—The Prairie Pirates of Cottonwood know that in the grand scheme of Idaho Class 2A prep football, they are an undersized team.
Just two Pirates are listed over 6 feet on their roster. Their state tournament quarterfinals opponent, Garden Valley, has seven players over 6 feet. It’s a tall task Prairie has faced week in and week out.
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True to their success all season, however, the size differential mattered little as the Pirates leapt out to a five-touchdown lead by halftime and beat the Garden Valley Wolverines 44-8 Friday at P1FCU Stadium in Lewiston.
The victory makes Prairie one of the final four 2A teams still alive for the state title. The second-seeded Pirates will host third-seeded Raft River of Malta next Friday at a time and location to be announced.
“I thought that we really handled their size,” said Prairie’s 5-10 quarterback Kade Quintal, who passed for 150 yards and a touchdown and rushed for three more TDs. “We’re undersized and outmatched almost every game, so it comes down to having heart.”
Outsized, not outmatched
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The Pirates’ secret to dominating up front might just be their 5-foot-9 senior center Ashton Martin, who cleared hole after hole for the Pirates’ rushers and gave Quintal time to throw alongside his fellow offensive linemen.
“It’s amazing. He’s 5-8 on a good day and he goes up against big guys at nose every day and he just puts that work in all the time,” Quintal said of his center. “He just has so much heart.”
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Prairie running backs Marshal Weber and Payton Stamper combined for more than 100 yards and a touchdown each.
Quintal did not have to throw the ball that often on Friday, but when he did, he had quite the reliable receiver in Isaiah Warren, who in the second quarter got wide open on a safety blitz, corralled the pinpoint pass from Quintal and raced 84 yards down the field.
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A Wolverine caught him at the 1-yard line, so Quintal took it the final yard to put Prairie up by four touchdowns with 6:46 left in the second quarter.
“We’d seen on film that they bring a safety blitz a lot of times, so we had an audible for it, and it worked out perfect,” Prairie coach Ryan Hasselstrom said. “It was a good ball. (Quintal) had to thread it in there. … Isaiah (Warren) had great hands on it and good moves, and got down to the 1 and it worked just like we practiced it.”
Defensive domination
Prairie shut out Garden Valley in the first half. The Wolverines sustained a drive to open the second half and put a TD on the board to cut the Pirates’ lead to 36-8 midway through the third quarter.
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It was little concern for the Pirates, who shut out the Wolverines the rest of the way.
Garden Valley used its size and physicality to scrape out some long runs and some fixable Pirate penalties gave them new life on some drives, but Prairie prevailed, coming through with fourth-down stops, forced fumbles and a Cooper Riener interception right in front of the end zone on Garden Valley’s final possession to put a bow on it.
Martin, who hardly left the field playing both center and defensive line, praised Prairie defensive coordinator Teel Bruner for getting the Pirates organized and in a position to succeed on defense.
“He’s going to give you all the tools,” Martin said. “He gives us these packets every week, and you just got to get in and study, watch your film, and just really do your job every time you’re out there. Know what you got to do, and if all eight guys know what you got to do, it’s going to be pretty good.”
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The voyage continues
After winning the 2A Whitepine League and accumulating a now 9-1 record, the Pirates have their sights set on one thing: a championship.
To have a chance to play for one, they will need to beat perhaps their toughest 2A opponent yet — Raft River.
“I want a state championship,” Quintal said. “And I think to get there, we just got to keep playing our game, stick to the basics and that’s how we win.”
Garden Valley 0 0 8 0—8
Prairie 22 14 0 8—44
First Quarter
Prairie — Payton Stamper 4 run (Isaiah Warren pass from Kade Quintal), 9:53.
Prairie — Warren 29 pass from Quintal (Quintal run), 6:00.
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Prairie — Marshall Weber 33 run (pass failed), 3:19.
Second Quarter
Prairie — Quintal 1 run (Quintal run), 6:46.
Prairie — Quintal 1 run (pass failed), 4:35.
Third Quarter
Garden Valley — Ezrah Marchand 38 pass from Payson Kelly, 7:08.
Fourth Quarter
Prairie — Quintal 3 run (Cooper Riener pass from Quintal), 2:02.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing — Garden Valley: Payson Kelly 17-36-1-179, Teigan Goff 0-1-0-0; Prairie: Kade Quintal 6-11-1-150.
Rushing — Garden Valley: Kelly 17-50, Marshall Coley 6-27, Rhett Fackrell 1-3, Kendrew Ward 5-9, Jacob Brasher 1-6, Carter Goff 4-11, Nicholas Larsen 1-2, Kaden Perez 1-1. Prairie: Marshall Weber 13-78; Payton Stamper 10-38, Quintal 8-12, Sam Rehder 3-11.
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Receiving — Garden Valley: Goff 11-71, Frackrell 3-58, Ezrah Marchand 3-50. Prairie: Isaiah Warren 2-113, Cooper Riener 2-23, Weber 2-14.
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
