CROOKSTON PIRATE FOOTBALL RUNS THROUGH HAWLEY TO TAKE HOME FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

The Crookston Pirate Football team played their best game of the year and ran away with their first win of the 2022 season with a 41-18 victory over the Hawley Nuggets in Hawley.

1st Quarter-

The Nuggets received the opening kickoff to start the game and got an easy first down without even running a play after an offsides and encroachment penalty called on the Pirates to move them up to their own 30-yard-line. The Nuggets finally were able to snap a play and quickly got to midfield in two plays. However, the Pirates’ defense was able to stand strong not far into their territory and forced the Nuggets to punt. The Nuggets tried to fool the Pirates with a fake punt, but the Pirates saw through the ruse to stop the Nuggets well short of the line to cause a turnover on downs to start the Pirates at their own 38-yard-line. The Pirates chose to start stick to the ground with the good field position and pushed to midfield after a 12-yard run by Running Back Ethan Boll. Ethan Boll continued to show off his speed and charged down into the Nuggets’ red zone after a strong 24-yard run to get the Pirates at the 14-yard line. The Pirates kept it with Boll who weaved through the Nuggets’ defense to find the endzone to have the Pirates strike first to go up 7-0. The Pirates kicked the ball back to the Nuggets but after a player touched the ball before it bounced out of bounds caused the Nuggets to begin at their own 12-yard line. The Pirates’ defense felt the momentum on their side and forced them to punt. But the Pirates continued their aggressiveness with Jaren Bailey breaking through the line to block the punt and recovered the ball at the Nuggets’ 1-yard-line. Quarterback Jack Doda took advantage of the short field to charge into the endzone for another touchdown. However, kicker Jake Erickson’s kick drifted left to miss the extra point to only put the Pirates up 13-0. The Pirates kicked off once again and trapped the Nuggets deep in their own territory once again to have them start at their own 19-yard-line. But once again, the Pirates stood strong once again with Linebacker Tanner Giese sacking Quarterback Noah Nelson for another loss and forcing the Nuggets to punt again. The Pirates started this drive at their own 39-yard-line and continued to move along the ground. But, the Nuggets’ defense stood strong and held the Pirates’ run game to a three-and-out. However, the Pirates weren’t ready to give the ball back and gave the ball to Tanner Giese to charge ahead on a fake punt of their own to pick up the first down and end the quarter with a fresh set of downs. 

2nd Quarter-

To start the second quarter, Ethan Boll exploded out of the backfield and past the Hawley defense with a 49-yard-run for another touchdown to extend the Pirates’ lead. To make up for their missed extra point on their last drive, the offense stayed on the field and gave the ball to Boll again to break into the endzone to put the Pirates up 21-0. However, the Nuggets seemed to find some life of their own as Nugget’s Bradley Olson found some space on the return before being brought down near midfield. The Nuggets chose to play their run game and quickly moved into Pirates’ territory on a few runs. The Pirates were finally able to hold the Nuggets at their 27-yard-line, but the Nuggets looked to try another 4th-down conversion, but after a pitch missed its intended target, the Nuggets turned the ball over on downs again and the Pirates began their next drive at their own 41-yard line. But on a pitch to Ethan Boll on a 3rd-down, Boll fumbled the ball, which the Nuggets’ defense pounced on to take the ball back at the Pirates’ 42-yard line. The Nuggets wasted no time with a 29-yard pass to Wide Reciever Bradley Olson to set the Nuggets up at the Pirates’ 14-yard-line. The Nuggets finally found the endzone for an 11-yard pass to Tight End Braxton Boe. The Nuggets looked to shorten their deficit to 13, but the Pirates quickly stood them up to prevent the Nuggets from scoring more than 6. The Pirates began their next drive at their own 35-yard-line, and Quarterback Jack Doda found Wide Receiver George Widman on a 27-yard pass to set the Pirates up at the Nuggets’ 37-yard line. The Pirates continued to eat the clock Ethan Boll pushed the Pirates into the red zone again with another 17-yard gain to set the Pirates at the Nuggets’ 16-yard line. Boll continued his rampage in the red zone with another 10-yard run to give the Pirates another touchdown, though Erickson’s kick once again missed the uprights to only put the Pirates up 27-6 with 41 seconds left to play in the half. After two failed runs by the Nuggets, they chose to let the clock wind down to regroup, trailing the Pirates 27-6.

3rd Quarter-

The Pirates received the ball to start the second half and snagged a bouncing squib kick to start them in great field position at their own 44-yard-line. The Pirates continued their run game to eat the clock and push the Nuggets back into their territory. Jack Doda pushed the envelope even further with a 29-yard pass to George Widman down to the Nuggets’ 4-yard line to set the Pirates up inside the red zone once again. Tanner Giese finally drove broke through the goal line with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a commanding 34-6 lead. Hawley began their next drive at their own 16-yard line after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Hawley. Hawley’s Fullback John Vetter answered the call with two 25+ runs to move the Nuggets to their own 32-yard line and start some momentum to get the Nuggets to the Pirates’ red zone. The Nuggets finally found the red zone again with a 4-yard touchdown for another Nuggets touchdown. The Nuggets tried once again to get another two-point conversion but Quarterback Noah Nelson’s pass sailed high over his target’s head to keep the score at 34-12. The Pirates began their next drive at their own 30-yard line, however, Quarterback Jack Doda underthrew his target George Widman to have the pass intercepted by the Nuggets, to give them the ball at their own 45 yard-line. However, the Pirates’ defense made a strong stand to force the Nuggets to go three and out, but the Nuggets chose to go for 4th-down once again. The Nuggets answered with a long 40-yard pass from Noah Nelson to Wide Receiver Levi Lelm set them up in the Pirates’ red zone to end the quarter. 

4th Quarter-

The Nuggets wasted no time and Wide Receiver Levi Lelm found the endzone again to cut the Pirates’ deficit but failed to find the endzone a second time for the two-point conversion to only be down 34-18. The Pirates began the next drive at their own 38-yard line and stayed with their run game to try and eat more of the clock and regain the points they gave up. Ethan Boll did just that with two strong runs that moved the Pirates into the Nuggets’ territory. Fullback Tanner Giese finished the drive with a strong 30-yard run that found the endzone that extended the Pirates’ lead again 41-18. The Nuggets began their next drive at their own 28-yard line, and despite the Pirates holding the Nuggets to a three and out and forcing them to punt, a Roughing the Kicker penalty that gave them a fresh set of downs. The Nuggets answered with an 18-yard screen pass to push themselves into Pirates territory again with 5:52 left in the game. The Pirates once again stood strong after Ethan Boll sacked Hawley Quarterback Noah Nelson to set up a long 4th and 19. But Nelson found Wide Reciever Mason Gratton, who broke free for 22-yards to the Pirates’ 23-yard line to get another first down for the Nuggets. The Pirates continued to stall the Nuggets and finally forced the Nuggets to give up the ball with another turnover on downs. The Pirates ran three more run plays to burn the final seconds of the game and take their first win over Hawley 41-18.

Crookston gets its first win of the year to improve to 1-2 and will host Frazee on Friday, September 23. Hawley drops to 1-2.

FOR PIRATES COACH NATE LUBARSKI’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW

1st Quarter –
5:44 – Crox – Ethan Boll 14-yard run (kick is good)
4:18 – Crox – Jack Doda 1-yard run (kick failed)

2nd Quarter –
11:48 – Crox – Ethan Boll 49-yard run (Boll run)
5:20 – Hawley – Noah Nelson 13-yard pass to Braxton Boe (run failed)
0:41 – Crox – Ethan Boll 10-yard run (kick failed)

3rd Quarter –
6:20 – Crox – Tanner Giese 1-yard run (kick is good)
3:42 – Hawley – Noah Nelson 4-yard pass to Levi Lelm(pass failed)

4th Quarter –
11:53 – Hawley – Noah Nelson 13-yard pass to Levi Lelm(run failed)
7:10 – Crox – Tanner Giese 30-yard run (kick is good)

INDIVIDUAL STATS