Prairie Pushes Past Peetz, 67-14

Peetz’s Bulldog Football team dropped its fourth consecutive contest with a loss to the Prairie Mustangs Friday night in New Raymer, 67-to-14.

A scoring burst at the end of the second quarter followed by a long opening drive narrowed the deficit and gave the Bulldogs some hope, but the Mustangs were able to force turnovers and put the Bulldogs away in the third quarter.

Peetz had faced the New Raymer team prior to the reopening of High School football in the Colorado Rural Football League in September and lost 50-to-6, but started this game with an eight play drive featuring a three man line with two runners and freshman quarterback Chance Segelke handing off to senior Aiden Curtis and switching up with runs by junior Ryan Schilz. Although the drive stalled and the Bulldogs punted, a Prairie player touched the ball and the Bulldogs recovered on the Prairie 20 yard line. But Schilz turned the ball over with a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, and the Mustangs recovered on their own 38 yard line. Prairie sophomore Claytin Hove broke through with a big gain, with Peetz senior Nolan Hill making  touchdown saving tackle at the 4 yard line. But Prairie was able to punch through quickly after and took an early 6-to-0 lead.

Peetz again ran the ball with some success, but their drive stalled and they punted back to the Mustangs. Junior quarterback Andy Long then connected with junior David Speicher for a 35 yard touchdown pass on a corner route, and Prairie was ahead 14-to-0. Peetz again could not sustain a drive, and the Mustangs put up another touchdown on a Hove three yard plunge up the middle, his first of four rushing touchdowns on the night, and the Bulldogs were in a 22-to-0 hole.

Peetz was finally able to sustain some momentum and used a combination of runs, passes and run option plays to move down the field into scoring position. A Segelke shovel pass to Curtis for four yards gave the Bulldogs their first points of the game and they trailed 22-to-6. Prairie struck back quickly with another drive capped by a 15 yard touchdown run by Hove to move their lead to 30-to-6. With time running out in the half, Peetz received the ensuing kick and started in good field position, and Nolan Hill took a Segelke pitch and threw back across the field deep and found Curtis for a 40 yard touchdown connection, and after a successful point after kick the Bulldogs had cut the Mustang lead to 30-to-16 going into the half.

Prairie received to start the second half, but Bulldog Head Coach Scott Sorensen opted for an on-side kick that caught the Mustangs off-gaurd, and the Bulldogs recovered on the 35 yard line. Peetz drove the ball, but on a third and six, Curtis took a pitch and fired a pass to Hill, but his throw was intercepted by Hove, not only stopping the eight play Bulldog drive with no points, but ending the Peetz momentum and possible comeback.

Prairie continued to be able to move the ball and score, and shut down the Peetz offense for the rest of the game. The Mustangs capitalized on every Bulldog mistake and scored five more touchdowns in the second half to cruise to a 67-to-14 victory. Hove rushed for 178 yards and four touchdowns, and caught a pass for another touchdown to lead the offense for the Mustangs.

Peetz finishes its regular season on Friday when they host the Arickaree Indians in Peetz at 6 p.m.