CROOKSTON SCORES FIRST OFFENSIVE TD SINCE GAME ONE, BUT FALLS TO PILLAGER

The Crookston Pirate Football team was missing two starting lineman, the starting quarterback, and fullback, and scored their first offensive touchdown in three games but came up short in a 30-6 loss to the Pillager Huskies in Crookston.  “Pillager is a good football team,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “We knew, being shorthanded, it was going to be tough and we started to see some good things in the second half.”

FIRST QUARTER-
Crookston started the game with the ball and had a three-and-out, and was forced to punt.  After an eight-yard punt, Pillager had the ball in good field position but fumbled on their third play of the game, and Crookston’s Jaren Bailey recovered the ball, and the Pirates had the ball back.  “They were running their toss play and I thought Jaren picking up the ball was great,” said Coach Butt. “I thought the kids did a great job and stepped up on that play.”  Crookston had another three-and-out and had a 12-yard punt into a stiff wind from the south.  Pillager started with the ball at the Crookston 26 yard line, and on the fifth play, they fumbled again. This time it was recovered by Zach Brown.  “We ripped the ball out,” said Coach Butt. “Zach jumped on it and we were making things happen defensively and that was great to see.”
Crookston started with the ball at their own 26-yard line and had a fourth down and one at their own 30-yard line and decided to go for it.  Crookston didn’t get the first down and turned the ball over on downs.  Pillager fumbled the ball on the first play, and Crookston’s Zach Brown scooped up the ball and ran 58 yards and was stopped at the Pillager seven-yard line.  “I thought Zach was going to score and I think if he would have cut the other way he might have,” said Coach Butt. “Zach played his heart out tonight and he was everywhere for us.”  Crookston ran the ball for two-yard before back-to-back no gains for a fourth down and five situation.  Crookston ran the ball for two yards and turned it over on downs at the three-yard line.  Pillager had the ball when the first quarter ended with a scoreless tie. “We were playing pretty good defense,” said Coach Butt. “I was pleased with what we did the first quarter.”

SECOND QUARTER – 
Pillager scored on their first possession of the second quarter on a drive that went 97 yards and was capped with a Griffin Decker 55-yard touchdown run.  After a two-point conversion, Pillager led 8-0 with 9:42 remaining.  “He was a tough running back to stop,” said Coach Butt. “They run their offense so well and they were able to break the big run for a touchdown on a nice play.”  Crookston had another three-and-out and was forced to punt.  Pillager answered with another impressive drive when they started at their own 44-yard line with 7:49 left in the half.  They ran 13 plays, had four first downs, and took almost seven minutes off the clock when Decker scored from one yard out, and after a two-point conversion, Pillager led 16-0 going into halftime.  “I thought defensively we played well and got after it,” said Coach Butt. “Offensively we didn’t have a great half, but I told the guys at halftime we were going to play better.”

THIRD QUARTER-
Crookston started the second half with kicker Jake Erickson placing a perfect onside kick, and he jumped on the ball at the 50-yard line to give the Pirates the ball to start the half.  “I thought Jake did a great job with the kick,” said Coach Butt. “He executed it well and it got the sideline fired up.”  Four plays later, Crookston fumbled the ball, and Pillager recovered.  Pillager fumbled the ball and lost 23 yards on the fourth play of the drive and followed it up with two five-yard penalties for a fourth down and 40 play, forcing them to punt.  Crookston followed with one of their better drives of the game when they seven plays and had two first downs, but the drive seemed to stall with two plays for a loss of nine yards. “We finally had some consistency on that drive,” said Coach Butt. “We started to move the ball and Ethan Boll ran hard and Gunner Gunderson started making some good decisions.” The buzzer sounded for the end of the third quarter with Pillager leading 16-0, but Crookston was on the move. 

FOURTH QUARTER –
The Pirate quarterback, Gunner Gunderson, started the fourth quarter with a 24-yard run, and he found the corner of the end zone for the first Pirate offensive touchdown since the first game of the year and after the extra point failed, Pillager led 16-6.  “One thing Gunner can do is run.  He ran like he was running for his life,” said Coach Butt. “It was nice to see Gunner score because everything didn’t go his way tonight and to get some positivity there was nice.”
Pillager answered 50 seconds later with a Blake Clark 50-yard touchdown run to take a 24-6 lead with 10:58 left.  Pillager added another touchdown on their next offensive series when Clark scored on a three-yard run for a 30-6 lead, and the Huskies held on to win by the same score. “Pillager is a very good team and they were stronger upfront,” said Coach Butt. “We were playing a lot of young kids and they never gave up and kept playing hard the entire game and I am proud of the kids tonight.”

Crookston drops to 1-3 on the year and will travel to Hawley on Friday at 6:00 p.m.  Pillager improves to 2-2 on the year. 

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1st Quarter
No scoring

2nd Quarter
9:42 -Pillager- Griffin Decker 55 yd run (Hunter Gjovik run)
:50 -Pillager- Griffin Decker 1 yd run (Quintin Laveau run)

3rd Quarter
No scoring

4th Quarter
11:48 -Crookston- Gunner Gunderson 24 yd run (run failed)
10:56 -Pillager- Blake Clark 50 yd run (pass failed)
8:17 -Pillager- Blake Clark 3 yd run (Hunter Gjovik run)

INDIVIDUAL STATS