Prairie surges in second half to beat Evergreen

The Prairie football team was grounded for the season’s first three games.

Now the sky is the limit.

Prairie beat Evergreen 28-23 in a 3A Greater St. Helens League game Friday at McKenzie Stadium.

Not only have the Falcons (2-3, 1-0) won two in a row, they showed they can finish strong. Trailing 13-7 at halftime, Prairie would open a 28-16 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Jayson Maddux threw for more than 300 yards for the second time this season. He threw for two touchdowns and also rushed for two Prairie’s offense showed it could be both balanced and explosive.

“If we keep playing like we did the second half, we could go undefeated the rest of the season,” Maddux said.

Evergreen (3-2, 1-1) was looking to go 4-1 for first time since 2007. Instead, the Plainsmen were left regretting four lost fumbles and penalties that twice gave Prairie first downs on fourth and short.

“You’ve got to hang onto the football,” Evergreen coach Terry Hyde said. “It’s that simple. Our gameplan was solid. You just can’t give a team with that explosive of an offense that many chances.”

Trent Hemann’s 35-yard touchdown run gave Evergreen a 13-7 lead with 7:06 left in the first half. The Plainsmen defense was causing havoc, with Dylan Goodpaster and Conner Ball blitzing into the backfield often.

But Evergreen could not extend its lead, in part because of three first-half fumbles.

“It’s not as much as we got beat as that we lost it,” Hyde said. “There’s a difference. Today we lost it.”

At halftime, Prairie made adjustments to its offensive line. Those gave Maddux the time he needed to pick apart the Plainsmen.

“They were blitzing their outside linebackers,” Maddux said, “We spread out our line and picked up their backers. That’s when everything started clicking.”

Maddux capped Prairie’s first second-half drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jake Bobst.

Evergreen retook the lead 16-14 on a 28-yard field goal by Ely del Angel.

But Prairie needed one play to answer. Maddux completed a short pass to Izaiah Ward, who broke five tackles en route to a 76-yard touchdown.

Maddux put Prairie ahead 28-16 early in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard quarterback keeper on a zone-read play.

Short passes, long shots and a quarterback who can run. Prairie’s offense, under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Peck, had beauty in its balance.

“Everything was working for us,” said AJ Dixson, who caught five passes for 33 yards. “The growth has been great. At first we were having trouble with the plays. But now we’ve all got them down.”

Maddux completed 18 of 23 passes for 302 yards, completing passes to eight receivers.

“I just seemed to find the holes,” Maddux said. “It was all of us going through reads, my O-line protecting me and the receivers making catches. Everything was working.”

Evergreen pulled within 28-23 when Nadil Hodic caught a 10-yard pass from Triston Fich with 1:09 to play. But Prairie recovered the onside kick, then put the game away with Aaron Brumley’s 15-yard run two plays later.

PRAIRIE 28, EVERGREEN 23

Prairie            0          7          14       7          —         28

Evergreen     7          6          3          7          —         23

First quarter

E – Triston Fich 1 run (Ely del Angel kick)

Second quarter

P – Jayson Maddux 22 run (Taylor Lawhead kick)

E – Trent Hemann 35 run (kick failed)

Third quarter

P — Jake Bobst 3 pass from Maddux (Lawhead kick)

E – Ely del Angel 28 FG

P – Izaiah Ward 74 pass from Maddux (Lawhead kick)

Fourth quarter

P – Maddux 10 run (Lawhead kick)

E – Nadil Hodzic 10 pass from Fich (del Angel kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Prairie: Jayson Maddux 16-19, Aaron Brumley 9-60, Carson Slagle 5-13. Evergreen: Zyell Griffin 13-95, Daniel Moltisanti 7-37, Triston Fich 9-31, Trent Hemann 12-91.

Passing

Prairie: Jayson Maddux 18-23-0-302, Logan Reed 0-1-0-0. Evergreen: Triston Fich 9-18-0-78.

Receiving

Prairie: AJ Dixson 5-33, Zeke Dixson 3-21, Anthony Estrada 1-11, Jake Bobst 5-34, Nolan Mickenham 1-47, Payton Miller 1-20, Izaiah Ward 1-76, Aaron Brumley 1-0. Evergreen: Trent Hemann 1-10, David Crawford 1-3, Nadil Hodzic 4-34m Zyell Griffin 2-24, Jeronte Burns 1-7.