Crookston Pirate Football Beat Up at Breckenridge

The Crookston Pirate Football team had two drives stopped at the three-yard line and trailed 12-0 at halftime and after an injury sidelined their quarterback late in the first half, they only had 17 yards of offense in the second half and the #6 Breckenridge Cowboys cruised to a 32-0 victory in a game played in Breckenridge.

Breckenridge won the coin toss and differed to the second half so Crookston started the game with the ball. Breckenridge used a squib kick and Crookston returned it to their own 46-yard to start the game with good field position. On the second play of the drive, Leyton Salentine scrambled and found Blake Fee down the middle of the field for a 15-yard pass and a first down. Four plays later, Crookston had a fourth down and long and Leyton Salentine dropped back to pass and found Jaden Lubarski for a 27-yard pass and another first down. On the next play, Crookston dropped back to pass again and Salentine found Lubarski in the end zone for a touchdown, but the officials threw the flag and said the Pirates had an ineligible receiver down the field. “What happened was we went to two tight ends,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “Our wide receiver covered up the tight end and because of that our tight end went out for a pass and that is why we were flagged.” Three plays later, Crookston had a fourth down and seven-yard play and Salentine threw a pass to Meier and he made the catch for six and a half yards and the Pirate drive was stopped at the three-yard line. “We did what we wanted to do. We had Jaden down the middle and we had Blake and we ran the ball well,” said Coach Scott Butt. “I said in the pregame interview that we needed to do better in the red zone and we didn’t do that. We don’t handle success very well at times.”
Breckenridge started their first drive of the game with the ball at their own three-yard line and Cade McGough started the drive with an 11-yard carry for a first down. After three more plays Breckenridge was forced to punt. On the punt, a Crookston player appeared to be blocked into the punter and as the punter was run over the flag was thrown. The officials said it was roughing the punter for a 15-yard personal foul penalty against Crookston and a Breckenridge first down. “We can’t make that mistake. Running into the kicker we can live with because we were going hard and I thought we got blocked into the kicker,” said Coach Butt. “I called a timeout right away because we don’t yell at officials, the only person that can do that is me. We can’t have penalties like that.” As the teams were heading back to the line of scrimmage, a Pirate player was flagged for a personal foul penalty for arguing with the official and the Cowboys received 30 yards on the Pirate penalties and three plays later they scored on a Cade McGough 11-yard run for a 6-0 lead. The extra point hit the upright and the score remained 6-0.
Breckenridge had another squib kick and Crookston returned it to their own 46-yard line to start their second drive. The Pirates first play was a handoff up the middle for a 45-yard gain by Lukas Meier down to the six-yard line. Crookston ran a play and Salentine ran the ball inside the one-yard line, just shy of the goal line. The next play was a handoff to the fullback Brooks Butt for a loss of two yards. On a fourth down and goal at the three-yard line Salentine rolled out to his right and threw a pass that fell incomplete and they turned the ball over on downs for the second drive in a row. “We were moving the ball well and all of a sudden they ran a blitz and of course I had the wrong call,” said Coach Butt. “We had two fullbacks and I tried to get a little tricky and get it to the second back and I am to blame on that call.” Breckenridge started the drive on their own three-yard line for the second straight possession. The Cowboys fumbled on the sixth play of the drive and Crookston’s Cade DeLeon jumped on the ball and Crookston had the ball at their own 36-yard line. The first Pirate play of the drive was a snap over the head of Salentine for a loss of 12 yards and two plays later they were forced to punt. Brooks Butt punted the ball 33 yards and Breckenridge started the drive at their own 18-yard line. On the third play of the drive, Cooper Yaggie found Tyson Piechowski down the middle of the field for an 80-yard pass for a touchdown and the two-point conversion failed, but the Cowboys led 12-0. Late in the second quarter, Crookston quarterback Leyton Salentine ran the ball for three yards and injured his knee and had to be helped off the field and was later carted off the field. Salentine came back to the sideline on crutches for the second half. They will know more on his injury in a few days. Breckenridge took a 12-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Crookston was struggling to find any offense and was only able to record 17 yards rushing in the second half. Crookston also suffered injuries in the first half to Blake Fee and Lukas Meier so they were missing three starters at the beginning of the second half. “It is hard right now. I was looking around and we look like a mash unit,” said Coach Butt. “We got beat up pretty bad tonight. Leyton going down is tough because the ball goes through his hands every play.” Breckenridge took advantage of the injured Pirates on the sidelines and on the opening kickoff of the second half, the Cowboys Cade McGough took the kick 75 yards for a touchdown and after the extra point kick, they led 19-0. Breckenridge continued to dominate the second half, scoring two more touchdowns and cruised to a 32-0 victory. “Breckenridge brought a lot of pressure tonight and sometimes we didn’t handle it and sometimes we did,” said Coach Butt. “Right now we are concerned about getting healthy and that is our main focus. I think if we would have been healthy for the whole game we would have been right there with them.”

Crookston drops to 1-3 on the year and will host Frazee on Friday. Breckenridge improves to 4-0 on the year.  

Jacob Hesby (left) and Lukas Meier (right) run the ball for the Pirates

Brady Butt and Joey Doda team up on the tackle

1st Quarter
4:41 – Breckenridge – Caden McGough 11 yard run (kick failed)

2nd Quarter
9:12 – Breckenridge –  Tyson Piechowski  80 yard pass from Cooper Yaggie  (run failed)

3rd Quarter
11:48 – Breckenridge – Caden McGough 75 yard touchdown return  (Charles Boldingh kick)
5:45 – Breckenridge – Hunter Feigum 25 run (kick failed)

4th Quarter
8:18 – Breckenridge –  Jaxon Wienbar 15 yard pass from Cooper Yaggie   (Charles Boldingh kick)

Blake Fee after a reception on the first drive of the game

Rushing

Passing

Receiving