As a publicity stunt (and to make money), the great Olympic sprinter Jessie Owens sometimes ran against race horses.
On the football field Friday night, Prairie’s unstoppable Jalen Rima out-ran a pack of Grayhounds not once, but several times, to lead his team to a much-needed 57-7 shellacking of District 6 foe Burlington.
Rima, a multi-sport star senior still deciding on college, scored three times on two long pass plays and a long run.
In the first half alone, as the Hawks built a 43-7 margin and coasted the rest of the way under a continuous clock, the lanky speedster accounted for 224 yards on just three rushes and three pass receptions.
The only time all night the visiting Grayhounds were able to stop him was by punting high enough in the second half to force him to make a fair catch.
“I guess I’m just blessed with a gift,” said Rima, hard-pressed to explain his elusiveness. “They say I’ve got a juke move, where I stop one way and then go the other. I don’t know what I do, honestly.
“When people are running after me, I just try to out-run 'em.”
In five games this season, no one’s caught him yet.
“Jalen’s the state 200 and 400 (track) champion,” pointed out Prairie coach Mark Bliss, “and he carries his pads well, meaning he can run as fast with pads as without.
“He’s our all-purpose player, and we use schemes to get him the ball at least 10 to 15 times a game. He gets double-covered 'cause everybody knows him. But we utilize him every way we can.”
Rima helped the Hawks (2-3, 1-0) get off to a fast start Friday night.
Running back Trevor Northrup scored on a 51-yard run on the fourth play of the game. Following a Burlington punt, Rima on the first play from scrimmage took a pass from quarterback Tyler Nunemaker and raced it in from 51 yards.
The Hawks, who haven’t had any trouble scoring all year, led 14-0 with the game less than four minutes gone.
“I think that gave us some confidence,” Rima said.
After that, it was off to the races.
Rima tallied twice more in the half, once on a 35-yard end-around and another time on a simple flare pass that he turned into an 84-yard touchdown.
Hunter Johnson also added two running scores in the first half, Northrup picked up his second touchdown in the third quarter and backup Mitch Jones finished up the scoring barrage.
Prairie piled up 419 yards despite a moving second-half clock. The Hawks held the Grayhounds (1-4, 0-1) to just 148 total yards.
“We needed that,” Bliss said. “We’ve lost nine guys to injuries in the last three weeks. So we’ve just tried to patch things up and keep going.
"We’ve been putting points on the board, and we thought it might be a track meet tonight and that Burlington would move the ball.
“But it was a great collective effort by our guys. It’s a new season now, and we’re 1-0.”
PRAIRIE 57, BURLINGTON 7
. BUR P
First downs 8 14
Rushes-yards 44-78 25-247
Passing yards 59 187
Comp-att-int 3-8-2 5-6-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Punts-avg 5-31 1-44
Penalties-yards 5-45 10-60
Burlington 7 0 0 0 - 7
Prairie 21 22 7 7 - 57
Scoring plays
P – Northrup 51 run (Collett kick)
P – Rima 51 pass from Nunemaker (Collett kick)
B – Gordon 7 run (Moser kick)
P – Rima 35 run (Collett kick)
P – Johnson 12 run (Nunemaker run)
P – Johnson 4 run (Collett kick)
P – Rima 84 pass from Nunemaker (Collett kick)
P – Northrup 9 run (Collett kick)
P – Jones 4 run (Collett kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing
Burlington - Gordon 15-68, Timberlake 9-11.
Prairie - Northrup 4-63, Rima 3-72, Johnson 5-36, Nunemaker 4-11.
Passing
Burlington - Timberlake 3-8-2, 59.
Prairie - Nunemaker 5-6-0, 187.
Receiving
Burlington - Sherwood 1-19, Gravel 1-11.
Prairie - Rima 3-152, Johnson 1-12, Northrup 1-51.
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