Nov. 14—Prairie coach Ryan Hasselstrom heard the noise around his program heading into this season. He noted that everyone had the team as “a year away.” Not until a 56-14 loss to Kendrick in September did Hasselstrom see the full scope of his team’s potential.
From that moment, the Prairie Pirates of Cottonwood won five straight games and made it all the way to the Idaho Class 2A state semifinals against the Raft River Trojans of Malta. While the Pirates suffered a 54-34 loss to the Trojans on Friday night at P1FCU Stadium in Lewiston, Hasselstrom can’t help but be proud of the strides his team made.
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“Early in the season not many people had us picked to do much, so to be able to play in the semifinal game and take a third-place trophy home is a huge accomplishment for them,” Hasselstrom said of his team’s growth.
Prairie finished 9-2 and was honored on the field with the third-place trophy.
Second quarter blizzard
It took nearly a quarter for both teams’ explosive offenses to feel each other out. After each team scored one touchdown in the first quarter, they then combined for 46 points in the second.
For Prairie, its scores came on three passing touchdowns from senior quarterback Kade Quintal to sophomore wide receiver Cooper Riener.
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Quintal finished the game 15-of-26 passing for 371 yards and four touchdowns. Riener was the top target, totaling six catches for 231 yards and all four scores.
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“They’ve been a good connection all year long,” Hasselstrom said of the two. “Cooper is a great athlete, and he’s only a sophomore and he’s a tough cover. Kade found him a lot of times and (Riener) made some great catches.”
The two struck like lightning as their first two scores came less than two plays after Raft River scoring drives. The first was a screen pass that went 70 yards and the second came on an over-the-shoulder grab by Riener that went for 62 yards.
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The Trojans scored 26 points and were assisted from two Pirate turnovers on special teams. The first came on a Prairie fumble that put the Trojans on Prairie’s 35-yard line. That drive ended with a Treyce Ward 1-yard score for Raft River.
The second Prairie mishap came right after a Raft River score. On the ensuing kickoff, the kick sailed left, well past the first line of the return team. It landed soft in a weak spot of the return team and the Trojans recovered it. Just three plays later Raft River quarterback Bo Udy found James Dalton from 22 yards out for the score.
Time of possession battle
While Prairie put points on the board, it was not able to sustain drives like the Trojans. This allowed Raft River to control the clock in the second half and help extinguish the Pirates’ passing attack from putting a dent into the lead.
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“We made them put some drives together, they made some big passing plays,” Hasselstrom said. “(But) we didn’t have long drives. Ours were short drives with big plays which worked, but you can’t do that the whole game.”
The Trojans’ leading rusher Dalton finished with 100 yards, Guide Tracy had 61 yards and Jaxon Boden added 50. Raft River quarterback Udy finished 8-of-10 passing for 156 yards in what Raft River coach Chad Evans said was his best game of the season.
“Coach (Jeff) Davenport calls our offense and that’s what I told him, just keep pounding the rock man,” Evans said. “That’s what we hang our hat on, that’s what we feel like we’re good at. ‘We’re going to pound the rock, show up and stop us because you know that’s what’s coming.'”
Looking ahead for Prairie
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Hasselstrom said the team will retain most of its players next season, with the hope to return to postseason action.
“I don’t think many people expected us to be in the position we’re in right now, but they’ve come together (and) jelled really well as a team,” Hasselstrom said. “We only have four seniors, we have a lot of underclassmen coming back and they’re focused and ready to make a run at it. It’s disappointing but I’m proud of them.”
Prairie 8 20 0 6—34
Raft River 6 26 6 16—54
First Quarter
Raft River — James Dalton 43 run (run failed), 2:10.
Prairie — Marshall Weber 65 run (Isaiah Warren pass from Kade Quintal), 2:00.
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Second Quarter
Raft River — Bo Udy 1 run (run failed), 10:41.
Raft River — Treyce Ward 1 run (pass failed), 7:41.
Prairie — Cooper Riener 70 pass from Quintal (Riener pass from Quintal), 7:24.
Raft River — Jaxon Biden 38 run (Daxton Severe pass from Udy), 6:14.
Raft River — Dalton 26 pass from Udy (run failed), 4:50.
Prairie — Riener 62 pass from Quintal (run failed), 4:03.
Prairie — Riener 11 pass from Quintal (pass failed), 0:03.
Third Quarter
Raft River — Dalton 1 run (run failed), 5:17.
Fourth Quarter
Raft River — Guide Tracy 1 run (Tracy run), 8:27.
Prairie — Riener 50 pass from Quintal (run failed), 5:58.
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Raft River — Severe 16 pass from Udy (Ward run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Prairie: Marshall Weber 4-64, Payton Stamper 7-29, Kade Quintal 5-13. Raft River: James Dalton 22-100, Guide Tracy 12-61, Jaxon Boden 2-50, Treyce Ward 13-37, Bo Udy 8-16, Jesse Peterson 3-12.
PASSING — Prairie: Quintal 15-26-371. Raft River: Udy 8-10-1-156, Dalton 1-23.
RECEIVING — Prairie: Cooper Riener 6-231, Weber 5-61, Isaiah Warren 2-59. Raft River: Daxton Severe 4-83, Ward 1-31, Dalton 1-22, Rodee Evans 1-23, Zak Stanger 1-15, Boden 1-5.
Wysup can be reached at 208-848-2268, hwysup@lmtribune.com, or on X @HaydenWysup.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
