Battle Ground beats Prairie 42-0, look to 4A GSHL tiebreaker

BATTLE GROUND — The Battle Ground Tigers capped off their best season in decades with a 42-0 beat down of rival Prairie Falcons on Friday night.

The results in the 4A Greater St. Helens league ensured that Battle Ground will be part of a three-way tiebreaker on Monday along with Skyview and Mountain View, which will determine who they’ll face in the state football playoffs next week.

The Kansas Plan tiebreak — which is played the same way as an overtime — will take place 6 p.m. Monday at Doc Harris Stadium. Battle Ground will face Skyview in the first matchup and the winner will face Mountain View, who was awarded a first-round bye after a coin toss earlier in the week.

Two teams will advance from there to the state playoffs next weekend.

While it would be nice for the Tigers to sit back and enjoy their regular season before looking ahead to a playoff game, they don’t get that luxury.

“Well, we got to go to work tomorrow,” head coach Larry Peck said. “It’s an odd situation with the tiebreaker. We have to get to work tomorrow and we have to practice some on Sunday.”

Getting their fourth shutout of the year, the Tigers held the Falcons offense down for much of the game. It took well into the first half for the Falcons to get a first down.

It was Senior Night for Battle Ground, which help set the tone early.

“It’s senior night, great atmosphere for the kids, lots of electricity,” Peck said. “We had a basic game plan, but the kids just performed it really well.”

The constant downpour made it hard for both teams to get going.

Both Falcons quarterbacks had trouble with the center exchange all night. Battle Ground quarterback Gunner Talkington completed a pass to himself when the ball slipped out of his hands as he tried to throw the ball down field.

In the second quarter, the Tigers broke the game open with some big plays, including a 39-yard fumble return for touchdown by Landon Hall.

The Tigers got one more touchdown just before halftime to put the game in running clock mode, allowing them to rest their starters for the entire second half.

With the 42 points, the Tigers set a school scoring record with 331 points on the season, eclipsing their total of 325 in 2013.

But while it was a great season for the Tigers, there is no time to pat themselves on the back.

“This is a tough league,” Peck said. “To get out of this league, it’s a nightmare.

BATTLE GROUND 42, PRAIRIE 0

Prairie 0 0 0 0—  0

Battle Ground 14 28 0 0—42

First Quarter

BG — Bailey Buckner 7 run (Riley Betcher kick)

BG — Reed Thompson 1 run (Betcher kick)

Second Quarter

BG — Curtis Stradley 33 run (Betcher kick)

BG — Buckner 52 run (Betcher kick)

BG — Landon Hall 39 fumble return (Betcher kick)

BG — Reed Thompson 5 run (Betcher kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Battle Ground, Bailey Buckner 5-74, Curtis Stradley 3-37, Gunner Talkington 2-(-4), Reed Thompson 8-56, Austin Adams 1-6, Logan Hertner 2-3, Derek Rasheed III 11-71, Ethan Zeller 1-(minus 13), Brock Robinson 3-9. Prairie, Carson Slagle 6-37, Kevin Aguirre 7-6, Alec Gawley 3-(minus 3), Tyler Feeney 1-2, Andrew Burris 2-0, Jacob Maddux 3-2, Henry Le 7-2.

PASSING — Battle Ground, Gunner Talkington 11-15-1-169. Prairie, Kevin Aguirre 1-5-1-0.

RECEIVING — Battle Ground, Max Randle 1-25, Kyle Cahoon 3-49, Riley Betcher 3-19, Logan Hertner 1-43, Cole Grossman 1-12, Buckner 2-37. Prairie, Isaiah Conley 1-0.