Crazy, crazy, crazy.

How else to describe a football game that featured 74 points, 794 total yards, 40 first downs and a stunning 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown?

One word. Crazy.

Prairie senior DeMetrius Harper caught 13 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns, and added the kickoff return for a score that led the Hawks past Kennedy, 41-33, Friday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference non-divisional game at Kingston Stadium.

Alex Hillyer ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns and Riley Fergus threw three touchdown passes to Jacob Frazier-Flores for Kennedy (0-2).

Prairie (2-0) jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, then found itself tossing counter-punches in the second period when the teams combined for 39 points.

Harper's touchdown return, when he zigged and zagged around Kennedy defenders, giving ground and looping back around until he could receive a springing block that sent him sprinting down the sideline, came right after Kennedy had scored a touchdown to pull within 28-19 with 47.3 seconds left in the half.

"It was crazy. I don't know how else to describe that play," said Prairie senior quarterback Jace Hanna, who was a bit on the ridiculous side himself. Hanna completed his first 13 passes, finished 21 of 27 for 333 yards and four touchdowns, and ran for a team-high 85 yards and a score.

"Really, we just took what they were giving us," Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey said.

And then the Hawks stole one on Harper's return.

The clock read 40 seconds left to play when Harper completed his run, meaning he zig-zagged and looped 90 yards in 7.3 seconds, a time that would make Usain Bolt envious. The clock was adjusted to 36.8 seconds, giving him a time of 10.5 that was probably still a teensy bit off the mark.

"We've seen that quite a bit in practice," Morrissey said of Harper's electrifying return. "He's an athletic kid. He's been waiting for this moment."

Morrissey said Harper was disappointed in his play a week ago, when he ran for 95 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 14 yards in a 28-7 win over Jefferson.

"It was shocking to me because I thought he had a good game," Morrissey said. "He wanted to make a statement tonight and I thought he did a very nice job."

Harper drew upon his inner Keyshawn Johnson for his statement: Just give me the darn ball.

"Just one touchdown? I was pretty upset with my game," Harper said of the Jeff game. "I just told (Hanna), 'Give me the ball a little bit more.'

"I was just teasing him to give me the ball."

Hanna, who tossed three touchdown passes to Jarred Edmonds against Jefferson, accepted the challenge from Harper.

"I thought, 'All right, I'll get you the ball,' " Hanna said. "It worked out tonight. He had a heck of a game."

Morrissey said he didn't realize Harper had 13 receptions.

"He does have a pretty good set of hands," Morrissey said.

Prairie set the tone for the game, marching 80 yards in four plays with the opening kickoff. The Hawks scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Hanna to Mitch Dellamuth.

Hanna tossed a 22-yard scoring pass to Harper the next time the Hawks got the ball for a 14-0 lead with 3:53 left in the first quarter.

And then came the rollicking second period.

Frazier-Flores caught touchdown passes of 12 and 31 yards for Kennedy after Hillyer had bulled 21 yards for a score on the period's first play.

Prairie kept countering. Hanna sneaked 1 yard for a touchdown, hooked up with Edmonds on a 69-yard touchdown play during which Edmonds broke at least four tackles, and Harper capped it off with his dazzling 90-yard kickoff return.

"It was exciting. The crowds were into it, our kids were into it," Morrissey said. "It was a great offensive battle, there in the first half especially."

It was crazy.

"I thought we played a pretty good offensive football game," Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis said. "It came down to blocking and tackling and I think we did a better job of blocking tonight, we just didn't tackle as well."

Lewis said it wasn't for lack of effort.

"I thought we hustled and flew around," he said. "We were just out of position too many times."

And that was a consequence of Prairie's speed, especially Harper and Edmonds, who caught four passes for 112 yards.

"When you got a guy like that, you can't count on one guy to tackle him," Lewis said. "I tell you our five hybrid guys that are linebackers and our corners are not anywhere close to him speed-wise.

"I guarantee you when I watch the video we'll have guys that are going full-speed to him. It's just that our full-speed isn't what his full-speed is."

The game slowed down in the second half.

But again, when Kennedy scored to pull within eight points on Fergus' 8-yard scoring pass to Frazier-Flores with 8:51 left in the third period, Prairie answered with an 11-play scoring drive that jumped the spread back to 15.

Hillyer scored with 3:27 left in the game to again cut the spread to eight.

Prairie recovered an onsides kick and ran out the clock.

"I'm glad we had the ball last," Morrissey said.

Prairie hosts No. 7 Xavier (2-0) next Friday night.

"We wanted to make sure we took care of business tonight," Morrissey said.

Prairie is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2009. The Hawks matched their victory total of a year ago with Friday's win.

"It feels good. The guys have earned this," Morrissey said.

"We're a different team than last year," Harper said. "If you're going to play us, you're going to have to come out and play us hard."

Kennedy, meanwhile, hosts Iowa City West (2-0) on Thursday night at Kingston Stadium. The Trojans put a 62-37 lump on Washington Friday night. The Warriors beat the Cougars, 17-6, a week ago.

"It's the MVC," Lewis said. "It's what we deal with every year."

PRAIRIE 41, KENNEDY 33

First downs -- CRP; 23. CRK; 17
Rushes-yards -- CRP; 31-112. CRK: 45-285    
Passing yards -- CRP: 333. CRK: 64  
Comp-att-int -- CRP: 21-27-0. CRK: 5-8-0 
Punts-avg. -- CRP: 3-35. CRK: 3-51 
Fumbles-Lost -- CRP: 0-0. CRK: 0-0
Penalties-yards -- CRP: 5-39. CRK: 4-40

Prairie           14   20     7     0  --    41
Kennedy        0    19     7     7  --    33

CRP - Mitch Dellamuth 29 pass from Jace Hanna (Sam Drysdale kick)
CRP - DeMetrius Harper 22 pass from Hanna (Drysdale kick)
CRK - Alex Hillyer 21 run (Eric Bertroche kick)
CRP - Hanna 1 run (Drysdale kick)
CRK - Jacob Frazier-Flores 12 pass from Riley Fergus (kick blocked)
CRP - Jarred Edmonds 69 pass from Hanna (Drysdale kick)
CRK - Frazier-Flores 31 pass from Fergus (pass failed)
CRP - Harper 90 kickoff return (run failed)
CRK - Frazier-Flores 8 pass from Fergus (Bertroche kick)
CRP - Harper 20 pass from Hanna (Drysdale kick)
CRK - Hillyer 6 run (Bertroche kick)

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: CRP - Jace Hanna 14-85, Trevor Northrup 5-41, Tristan Beyer 8-6, Mitch Dellamuth 1-1, DeMetrius Harper 2-(-19), Team 1-(-2). CRK - Alex Hillyer 28-214, Riley Fergus 8-39, Miles Moa 8-30, Seth Gilmore 1-2.

PASSING: CRP - Hanna 21-27-0-333. CRK - Fergus 5-8-0-64.

RECEIVING: CRP - Harper 13-134, Edmonds 4-112, Dellamuth 2-51, Caleb Davison 2-36. CRK - Jacob Frazier-Flores 3-51, Joel Smetzer 1-9, Hillyer 1-4.

Sophs -- Kennedy 24, Prairie 8

< Prev		Next >