BATTLE GROUND — Two teams looking to start new football chapters delivered an exciting, if at times exasperating, performance on Friday at District Stadium.
Ultimately, Heritage made just enough plays to edge Prairie 17-16 in the non-league season opener.
Specifically, Timberwolves quarterback Gavin Lee made enough plays to lift Heritage to the win.
Lee ran for one touchdown and threw for another as Heritage turned an early deficit into a lead. Kyle Hood kicked a 27-yard field goal early in the third quarter that provided just enough cushion for the visitors to hold off a fourth-quarter Falcons rally.
Lee provided a spark for the Timberwolves with a huge run on the final play of the first quarter, then capped a 93-yard scoring drive with a determined 14-yard touchdown run on a fourth down.
Backed up on his own 4, Lee found a gap and ran 69 yards on the final play of the first quarter to shift momentum in a game the Falcons led early.
“I just kind of ran the ball where the open play was,” Lee said.
On the touchdown that pulled his team within a point in the second quarter, Lee carried several tacklers to the end zone on a fourth-down effort that covered 14 yards.
“The touchdown run was unreal,” Heritage coach Matt Gracey said. “He took on four guys and bulled his way to the end zone.”
Heritage led 14-8 at halftime, then added Hood’s field goal after a Prairie fumble on the opening possession of the second half.
The Falcons defense kept the Timberwolves off the scoreboard the rest of the night, and gave Prairie life by tackling Lee for a safety early in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons had a chance to take the lead after Alec Gawley caught a deflected ball in the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown with 7 minutes left. But a celebration penalty moved the conversion try back 15 yards. A pass interference penalty on Heritage gave Prairie a second conversion try from the 8, but that also came up short.
Prairie got the ball one more time and survived one fourth down on a facemask penalty before four consecutive incomplete passes ended the comeback bid with the ball still in Falcon territory.
Lee finished with 114 rushing yards and 71 passing.
Prairie quarterback Kevin Aguirre threw for 110 yards and one touchdown and ran for 70 yards. The Falcons had a chance to build a bigger early lead but failed to score twice inside the red zone in the first half, including once with the ball at the Heritage 1-yard line.
Both teams hurt themselves with penalties throughout the contest, including several that wiped out potential big plays for both teams.
Gracey praised Prairie’s effort and his own team’s resiliency.
“It was a hitting ball game. Anyone who thought they were going to come out here and see as pillow fight would’ve been wrong,” Gracey said.
Prairie coach Kevin Baker, too, said he liked the compete level he saw from his team.
“We had some good hard runs by some of the kids. A lot of second effort,” Baker said. “And I thought the defense really came alive, gang tackling and running the ball down.”
HERITAGE 17, PRAIRIE 16
Heritage 0 14 3 0–17
Prairie 8 0 0 8–16
First quarter
P — Carson Slagle 16 run (Kody Keyt run)
Second quarter
H — Gavin Lee 14 run (Kyle Hood kick)
H — Thomas Huffman 9 pass from Lee (Hood kick)
Third quarter
H — Hood 27 FG
Fourth quarter
P — Safety, Lee tackled in own end zone.
P — Alec Gawley 16 pass from Kevin Aguirre (run failed)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Heritage: Lee 11-114, Kalani Umiamaka 14-69, Lafi Sosene 10-46. Prairie: Aguirre 16-70, Kyle Schulson 12-87, Slagle 4-33, Tyler Feeney 4-9, Gawley 2-14, Jaelen Stephen 1-16, Bryson Pena 1-2.
PASSING — Heritage: Lee 9-18-1-73. Prairie: Aguirre 8-21-0-110.
RECEIVING — Heritage: Nickolas Somboun 5-31, Huffman 2-20, Matthias Rivera 1-9, Umiamaka 1-13. Prairie: Keyt 5-62, Gawley 1-28, Stephen 1-16, Schulson 1-4.
