HIGH POWERED BARNESVILLE TROJANS SHUT OUT CROOKSTON FOOTBALL

The Crookston Pirate Football team hosted one of the best teams in Northwest Minnesota on Friday night, the Barnesville Trojans. The Trojans would run for over 300 yards and win the game 28-0, but the Pirates were much improved from a week ago. “You’re never okay with a loss, but I thought our guys responded well tonight,” said Pirates Coach Nate Lubarski. “We had guys step up and make plays tonight and we competed for all four quarters. I am extremely proud of the boys for their effort.”

FIRST QUARTER

The Pirates defense came out big to start to game, with an Ethan Boll sack and a blown-up play by set the Trojans back to start their first drive. An offensive pass interference play made it 3rd and 25, and the Trojans were able to convert with a huge run from John Roller to keep the drive alive. The Trojans used that momentum to drive down to the field and capped off the drive with a John Roller 17-yard touchdown run. The Trojans proved to have done their homework, stopping the Pirate’s Ethan Boll on the ground on the first two plays of the opening drive, forcing a three and out. Ethan Boll would blow up another first play of a drive causing a loss of one, but the Trojan’s would convert on a 3rd and short to keep the drive alive. The Pirates showed some strength in the trenches, with another sack by the Pirates, this time by Clay Hanson. On 4th and 2, the Pirates read the options perfectly as Jaron Bailey pushed through and force a turnover on downs. “Sometimes you have to realize that you can do it and play at a high level,” said Coach Lubarski. “That’s when football becomes fun and we saw some guys develop tonight in front of our eyes throughout the game.” After a false start, Barnesville would send a blitz on second down to set up a 3rd and 24. The Pirates offense could not get anything going on offense, and they would punt it back to the Trojans starting on their own 45 yard line. And the quarter would end 7-0 in favor of Barnesville.

SECOND QUARTER

The Pirates defense continued to give the Trojans the fits to start the quarter. On the third play of the quarter, Barnesville go for a play-action pass and the Pirates get another sack, this time by Ethan Boll, forcing a punt. The Pirates start at their own 12 yard line, and the Trojans would blow through the Pirates offensive line, forcing Crookston to punt. “They were bringing more guys then we could block,” said Coach Lubarski. “There team’s speed made life tough and that was tough for us offensively.” On the snap for the punt, the ball would sail over the punter, and out of bounds forcing a safety to make it 9-0 Barnesville with just over six minutes to go in the half. Andrew Peterson would get a first down on the opening play of this drive, and the Trojans would go to a play-action play, and the Pirates again aren’t fooled, and Carter Coauette comes up with another sack for Crookston. The Trojans would bust out a huge run for the Trojans to bring it to the Pirate’s twenty-six-yard line. After another first down, a holding penalty against Barnesville would back them up and make it second and twenty. The Jaren Bailey and Jesus Sanchez Jr blow through the line to make it 3rd and 20. Clay Hanson would make it into the backfield for the Pirates to make it fourth and long with a minute left in the half. The Pirates don’t fall for the option play, and the Clay Hanson gets through the line to force another turnover on downs. The Pirates would run one play, with no gain to run down the clock to end the half with Barnesville leading 9-0. The Pirates offense struggled in the first half, having only ten plays for -3 yards total and no first downs. Meanwhile, Barnesville’s offense producing 152 total yards, over 33 plays, with 137 yards coming from the ground.

THIRD QUARTER

The Pirates received the ball to start the half, starting from their 32 yard line, and the Pirates’ woes on offense carried over from the first half with Jack Doda rolling out to his right to try and convert the third down. The pass goes through Ethan Boll’s hands right into Ethan Larson’s hands for the interception for Barnesville. The Trojans would get a big run off their first play of the drive with a huge run down deep into Pirate territory. Quarterback Zachary Breadman would scramble from the 5 yard line, alluding multiple hits and falls into the endzone to make it 15-0. The PAT makes it 16-0, with 9:30 left in the third quarter. The Pirates next offensive drive would be stalled by a late hit penalty against Crookston, followed up by a false start to make it now 3rd and 29 from their own 10 yard line. The Trojans would get into the backfield, and force Crookston to punt. “We have the pieces to be successful on offense,” said Coach Lubarski. We just need to be more aggressive on offense and have the mindset we have on defense, when we have the football.” Barnesville would start the drive from the Pirates’ fifteen. Andrew Pederson would get it to first and goal from the 1-yard line. Ethan Larson would punch it in to make it 22-0. The PAT was blocked by Ethan Boll to keep it 22-0 with 6:44 left in the quarter. The Pirates best starting play of a drive was Jack Doda getting 6 yards on the ground. After a false start and a big Barnesville stop, the Pirates would be forced to punt with 3:30 left in the quarter. The Trojans would start to drive stringing together some runs. The Trojans thought they scored on a well-executed 23-yard reverse, but a block in the back would cancel the score and bring it back to the Pirates’ 15 yard line. The next play the Trojans would score on a Andrew Pederson run up the middle to make it 28-0 with 2 seconds left in the quarter. Barnesville would go for two, but George Widman would jump the route to prevent Trojans converting the two-point conversion.

FOURTH QUARTER

The Pirates start the quarter from their own 26 yard line down 28-0. The Trojan’s defense would continue to be strong up front to force the Pirates a three and out with 10:20 left in the game. Barnesville would bring in a new quarterback in the game with Gannon Bolgrean keeping it for a first down on the first play of the drive. The Trojans would be content with running the ball to run the clock out. After another first down, the Pirates defense would stand tall, forcing a 4th and 4. Barnesville would convert to keep their drive going. After that conversion, Andrew Pederson would fumble the ball, and  Tanner Geese would come up with it to stop the drive, and give the Pirates an opportunity to put some points on the scoreboard with over five minutes left in the game. Teagan Lubinski would come into the game, and throw a 12 yard pass to Carter Coauette comes up with the Pirates’ first first-down of the game. On a fourth down Lubinski would throw on the run to Carter Coauette for a 20 yard pass for the Pirates to make it to Trojan territory for the first time in the game. The next play, about three Trojans would chase Lubinski out of the pocket for a sack and a loss of 8 with a minute left to play. Another sack by Barnesville to force 4 and 12. Lubinski tried to get the ball to Ethan Boll was broken up by the Trojans to force the Pirates to turnover the ball on downs. The Trojans would take the knee to end the game with the final score being 28-0.

Crookston drops to 0-2 on the season, and will travel to Hawley on Friday, September 16. “I think will just continue to build on the positives this next week in practice,” said Coach Lubarski. “We do have areas we need to be better in and one of them is our offense. Our defense was incredible tonight and so we’re hopeful to get the offense going next week.” Barnesville improves to 2-0 on the year.

1st Quarter
7:52 – Barnesville – John Roller 17-yard run (PAT)

2nd Quarter
6:11 – Barnsesville – Safety

3rd Quarter
9:30 – Barnesville – Zach Bredman 5-yard run (PAT)
6:44 – Barnesville – Ethan Larson 1-yard run (PAT blocked)
0:02 – Barnesville – Andrew Pederson – 15 yard run (2-point conversion failed)

4th Quarter
No Scoring

INDIVIDUAL STATS