The difference between the Prairie and Jefferson football teams Friday night was 18 inches.

Jefferson failed to score from inside the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter and Prairie escaped with a 17-14 victory in a Class 4A non-district game at Kingston Stadium.

Jefferson quarterback Jesse Furrow came up 18 inches short on his sneak from the 1-yard line on second down. The J-Hawks lined up to try again on third down and Prairie nose tackle Bryce Meeker did not like where he was standing.

"My whole body was in the end zone," said Meeker, the 300-pounder who is headed to Iowa State next year.

Meeker and his teammates braced for another assault, but it never came. The J-Hawks were penalized five yards for illegal procedure and things unraveled from there.

Jefferson ended up trying a 26-yard field goal, but Prairie linebacker Ben Boldt knocked it away to preserve his team's 17-14 edge.

"I just layed out for it and I was lucky to get my right hand on it," said Boldt.

Jefferson Coach Brian Webb lamented that five-yard penalty that helped turned a possible victory into a disappointing defeat. He blamed it on lack of discipline.

"I can only say it to these kids so many times," said Webb. "They want to know why I ride them so hard when they show up to practice late, when they show up to weights late or when they don't turn in their homework.

"The margin of error in the game of football and life is the half-yard line, where we couldn't line up in the correct formation. It's discipline, and we didn't have it tonight."

Jefferson (0-2) got another chance with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game, but an accurate slant pass from Furrow from his own 28-yard line slipped through Jalyn Stafford's hands and was intercepted by Coen Brown.

"It might have been a touchdown if he caught it," said Webb. "There was nobody there."

Prairie and Jefferson traded scores for the first three periods with some big plays on offense en route to a 14-14 deadlock.

Trey Beckman found Jalen Rima for a 65-yard touchdown pass as Prairie took a 7-0 lead, but the J-Hawks responded when Furrow connected with Bryce Lund for an 84-yard touchdown on a pass that zipped right between two Prairie defenders.

Keagan Pinter raced 78 yards as the Prairie Hawks grabbed a 14-7 edge, but Furrow found Lund again for a 40-yard strike and it was 14-14.

Sam Drysdale kicked a 23-yard field goal to give Prairie a 17-14 lead with 11:49 left in the game and that's how it turned out as the Hawks squared their record at 1-1.

Furrow, a transfer from Indiana, passed for 254 yards despite severe pressure from the Prairie defense. Lund caught four balls for 141 yards and both TDs. Furrow was sacked several times and had defenders in his face all night.

"The pass protection wasn't very good," said Webb. "What can I say? He's scrambling for his life out there. Dropped balls. The kid's out there giving everything he has and we just can't help him."

Furrow ended up losing 14 yards on 17 carries, counting sacks and the times he was stopped on running plays behind the line of scrimmage.

Beckman passed for 173 yards and Pinter scooted for 146 for Prairie, butBeckman thought the difference in the game was elsewhere. "It's got to be the defense," he said.

"Jeff is a good team," said Beckman. "They're going to beat some teams this year. I know we kind of stole one out here tonight. It means a lot to our team."

Jefferson has made great strides during Webb's three years, but the head coach is not looking for moral victories after two straight years of 1-8 records.

"No, no, no," he said. "We should have beat that team and we couldn't do it."

Dalton Kuehl, Jefferson's top offensive lineman at 6-foot-6 and 249 pounds, missed the game with a leg injury. Webb expects Kuehl to return to practice next week and listed him as day-to-day.

 

 

PRAIRIE 17, JEFFERSON 14

 

Prairie       Jeff

First downs 11   16

Rushes-yards 30-158         39-110

Passing yards      173            254

Comp-Att-Int 11-21-0        11-18-2

Fumbles-lost 0-0            0-0

Punts-avg. 5-39.0         4-34.3

Penalties-yards    10-80          10-65

 

Prairie    7  0  7  3 - 17

Jefferson  0  7  7  0 - 14

 

Scoring plays

 

P - Jalen Rima 65 pass from Trey Beckman (Sam Drysdale kick)

J - Bryce Lund 84 pass from Jesse Furrow (Caleb Kesterson kick)

P - Keagan Pinter 78 run (Drysdale kick)

J - Lund 40 pass from Furrow (Kesterson kick)

P - Drysdale 23 FG

 

Individual Statistics

 

Rushing

Prairie - Keagan Pinter 20-146, Trey Beckman 9-13, JoJo Simpson 1-minus 1.

Jefferson - Tavian Rashed 13-63, Mason Short 4-49, Jalyn Stafford 1-13, Manny Olutunde 1-7, Bryce Lund 1-minus 2, Mason Furnish 1-minus 6, Jesse Furow 17-minus 14.

 

Passing

Prairie - Trey Beckman 11-21-0, 173

Jefferson - Jesse Furrow 11-18-2, 254

 

Receiving

Prairie - Jalen Rima 4-99, Keagan Pinter 3-36, Connor Grade 3-29, Jojuan Simpson 1-9.

Jefferson - Bryce Lund 4-141, Mason Furnish 2-32, Mason Short 2-31, Manny Olutunde 1-24, Cross Hollandsworth 1-14, Austin Ridenour 1-12.

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