PIRATE FOOTBALL ADVANCES TO THE SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2004

The Crookston Pirate Football team bounced back from trailing early to overcome the Pelican Rapids Vikings to win the semifinal round of the 8AA football playoffs 27-12 to advance to the final round of the playoffs.  The trip to the Section Championship is the first for Crookston since 2004, and it was the first semi-final game in five years.  

1st Quarter –

Pelican Rapids started the game with the ball and opened the drive at their own 40. The Vikings started on the ground and got two first downs with four running plays by Payton Blakeway and Carter Johnson to quickly get into Pirates territory. Johnson continued to drive into the Pirates’ territory to get down inside the Red Zone at the Pirates’ eight-yard line, which set up Jack Kapenga for a 12-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game. Still, the Pirates were able to keep the Vikings out of the endzone again for their two-point conversion to keep the score at 6-0 after a 10-play 60-yard drive.
Crookston couldn’t answer as they were forced to punt after three plays. And Jake Erickson had a nice 38-yard punt, and the Viking’s second drive started at their own 24. The Vikings looked to return to their running game, but Jack Kapenga fumbled the ball, which he was able to recover, but the Pirates swarmed him for a loss of ten yards to push them back to their own 14.  The Crookston defense looked like a completely different defense and forced Pelican Rapids to punt.
The Pirates began their next drive by getting a free five yards after an encroachment penalty on Pelican Rapids.  Crookston made it to midfield with a pass from Jack Doda to Ethan Boll, who broke a few tackles to make it to their 46. The Pirates continued to go to their run game and broke into Vikings’ territory, and got down to the Vikings’ 24-yard line before the Quarter ended, with the Pirates trailing 6-0.

2nd Quarter –
The Pirates continued to drive down the field, and Ethan Boll went through the Vikings’ defense to make it down to the Vikings’ two-yard line. Boll finished the 11-play 68-yard drive with a two-yard run for a touchdown. The Pirate’s two-point conversion was stopped, and the score was tied at 6-6 with 10:43 left in the first half. The Vikings received the kickoff, and Jack Paulson found a hole and returned it to the Pirates’ 45-yard line. Crookston’s defense continued its domination to force a three-and-out and another punt from the Vikings, giving the Pirates the ball back at their own 37.
Crookston couldn’t get anything going offensively and was forced into a three-and-out and punt. The Vikings began their next drive at their 29-yard line. The Vikings were able to make a deep pass to Wide Receiver Treyvon Benson for a 75-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown, but a holding penalty negated the play and pushed the Vikings back to their own 14. The Pirates locked down their defense, and while the Vikings were able to make it back to their own 35 with a pass to Luke Sjolie, it was still short of the first down. Pelican Rapids went for it on fourth down, but the Pirates tipped a pass that fell incomplete to turn the ball over on downs back to the Pirates.
That stop on fourth down proved to be the play of the game as Crookston took advantage of having the ball on the Viking 35-yard line. After a couple of plays, Ethan Boll continued his stellar running game, fought his way around the Viking’s defense, and found the endzone with a 17-yard run to put the Pirates in the lead. After a Jake Erickson extra point kick, Crookston led 13-6 with 15 seconds left in the half, and that is how the half would end. 

3rd Quarter –

The Pirates started the second half with the ball, and the opening drive started at their 24-yard line. It only took Boll and the Pirates one play to get back on the board as he ran towards the Pirate sideline, broke a few tackles, and tightrope down the sideline for a 76-yard touchdown run for a 19-6 lead.  After a successful extra point kick by Jake Erickson, the Pirates led 20-6.
The Vikings began their first drive of the half at their own 26 and tried to answer in kind with their own run game, and did with a run of their own by Carter Johnson, who got into the Pirates’ territory to the Pirates’ 44. But the Pirate’s defense swallowed their rushing attack soon after and brought up another fourth down and short. The Vikings tried to run, but the Pirate’s defense stood firm and held the Vikings short of the first down, forcing another turnover on downs.
The Pirates followed with a three-and-out and punted. The Vikings began their next drive at their own 45 and looked to pick up where they left off, but the Pirates’ defense found Payton Blakeway in the backfield to sack him for another loss of 10. Pelican Rapids recovered the lost yardage with a pass to Luke Sjolie from Blakeway but were still short of the first down and elected to go for it again on fourth down. For the third time in the game, the Pirates’ defense stood firm and held the Vikings short of the first down for another turnover on downs.
The Pirates began their drive at their own 47 and returned to the run game to try and eat the clock, but the Vikings were able to hold them short of the first down by half a yard. The Pirates tried their hand at converting a fourth down and were able to push forward to the Vikings’ 40 to keep the drive alive. The Pirates continued to use their rushing attack but were stopped short of the first down to end the quarter leading 20-6.

4th Quarter-

The Pirates tried to convert another fourth down conversion to start the quarter but fumbled the ball, and while they were able to recover it, they gave the Vikings the ball at their own 35.
The Viking’s offense started the next drive strong with a 31-yard run by Carter Johnson to get to the Pirates’ 38. The Vikings decided to go through the air with a series of passes, and the Vikings finally answered with an eight-yard pass from Blakeway to Carter Johnson for a touchdown. The Vikings looked to shorten their deficit, but Blakeway’s two=point conversion pass fell short, and Crookston led 20-12.
The Pirates took a short kick to begin their next drive at their own 48 and went back to the run game to try and eat the clock, but the Vikings’ defense forced them to punt. Treyvon Benson received the punt back inside the Vikings’ 20 and took it out to their own 29 before being brought down. The Vikings went to the aire the rest of the game, and Blakeway completed passes to Benson and Luke Sjolie to keep them moving toward midfield. The Vikings had a big 24-yard pass from Payton Blakeway to Jack Paulson, followed by another eight-yard pass to Miguel Torres to give the Vikings another first down. The Pirates’ defense finally got Blakeway to sack him for a loss and hold the Vikings for another fourth down. The Vikings went for it all with a jump ball in the endzone, but the Pirates’ Antonio Romero knocked the ball away, and Crookston got it back with five minutes to play.
The Pirates took the ball back again at their own 17 and looked to run out the clock by running the ball, but the Vikings’ refused to let them further than the 24 and forced them to punt with just under four minutes remaining, which bounced to the Vikings 14-yard line after a 51-yard punt by Jake Erickson.
The Vikings escaped a safety sack in the endzone and fired a pass to Sjolie to their 26 for the first down with 3:14 left in the game. The Pirates’ defense finally contained Blakeway with a two-yard loss followed by a holding call that pushed the Vikings back another 10 yards to their own 15. Pelican Rapids decided to go back to the passing game, but the subsequent two passes fell incomplete and forced the Vikings to turn the ball over on downs for the fourth time with 2:14 left. The Pirates took over at the Vikings’ 26 and.  After a few plays, Crookston had the ball on the Pelican Rapids eight-yard line and handed the ball off to senior running back Tanner Giese, who galloped into the endzone for a touchdown to put the Pirates up 27-12 with 1:14 left in the game.
After the Pirate kickoff, the Vikings tried four different plays but could not get anything going, and Crookston won the game 27-12.

With the win, the Pirates will advance to the Section 8AA finals on Friday, November 4, at the Fargodome to play the #1 see Barnesville Trojans at 8:00 p.m. and will be on KROX Radio starting at 7:20 p.m.

FOR COMMENTS FROM COACH NATE LUBARSKI, CLICK BELOW

1st Quarter –
8:38-Pelican Rapids-Jack Kapanga 12-yard run (run failed)

2nd Quarter –
10:43 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 2-yard run (run failed)
0:15 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 17-yard run (Jake Erickson kick)

3rd Quarter –
11:38 – Crookston – Ethan Boll – 76-yard run (Jake Erickson kick)

4th Quarter
10:22 – Pelican Rapids – Payton Blakeway 8-yard pass to Carter Johnson (pass failed)
1:14-Crookston – Tanner Giese 8-yard run (Jake Erickson kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS