PINE RIVER - In Pine River-Backus, it should be called the orange zone.
Four times the PR-B Tigers defense forced the Pillager Huskies offense off the field with no points despite being inside the Tigers' 20 yard line. That helped the Tigers to capture a 21-18 North Star Conference victory Friday.
It's PR-B's first victory over Pillager in five tries.
"We talked about that before and after the game," said PR-B head coach Tom Demars. "I'm proud of these guys for being the first group of kids that has beaten Pillager. We haven't beaten them since they joined the conference. Usually they've been conference champs the last three years. We figure they'll be in the hunt again this year."
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PR-B 21, Pillager 18
- Key: Tigers defense stopped Huskies four times in red zone
- Conf: Pill 0-1, PRB 1-0
- Overall: Pill 1-2, PRB 2-1
- Next: Pillager hosts Blackduck 7 p.m. Friday; Pine River-Backus at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 7 p.m. Friday.
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The key for PR-B was defense. The Tigers held Pillager to just 97 yards rushing. Sam Pelkey recovered a Pillager fumble at the Tiger 2 yard line to end one Huskies drive.
Chris Geschwill intercepted Ryder Hunstad late in the second quarter and the Tigers defense forced a loss on downs on their own 3 in the second quarter. That led to a 14-12 halftime edge.
"We got guys in there that are playing hard," said Demars. "We've had a hard time in our first two games getting the defense off the field. We've given up a lot of yards and a lot of first downs. We kind of went through that again tonight, but they really did step up and played hard when they had to."
PR-B wasn't without its headaches. Pillager's Chris Ringler blocked a PR-B punt inside the Tigers' end zone. TJ Ahmann landed on the ball for a quick 6-0 Huskies lead. Pillager's second touchdown came after a Hunter Haggerty interception that he returned 30 yards to the PR-B 3. Chris Ramsey tallied the last three yards on the next play for a 12-7 Huskies edge in the second quarter.
PR-B also had six penalties for 40 yards, which hampered them from seizing a bigger lead.
But Henry Krecklau scored from 10 yards out late in the first quarter for a 7-6 PR-B edge. Zach Struss, who finished 15-25 passing for 181 yards, hit Kiel Struss from 3 yards out for the halftime score.
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"The way things were going I was kind of surprised we made it as close as we did," said Pillager head coach Lowell Scearcy. "We were right there to the end with having a chance to score. We didn't so you have to give them credit. This is a good team. This is the best team in Pine River for a few years. I don't know who is going to beat them."
The third quarter was all Krecklau. The senior tailback finished with 128 yards on 28 carries - 43 of those came in the third quarter. He also caught a 10 yard touchdown pass from Zach Struss to give PR-B a 21-12 lead.
The Tigers then executed an onside kick and ran off another nine plays before Pillager's Ramsey picked off Struss. PR-B ran 21 plays to Pillager's six in the third quarter.
"In the second quarter, we ran the ball pretty well," said Demars. "They were playing a four-man front with a softer cover 2. They were defending the pass. The third quarter we were able to run it again and then they switched up to a different front late in the game. That's when started to struggle. We were a little conservative and trying to run out the clock."
In the fourth quarter, Pillager mounted a 13-play, 85-yard drive that ended on the PR-B 2 yard. After a Tigers' punt, Pillager drove to the PR-B 20, but two straight Nick Gravdahl sacks ended that drive. On the next play, however, Ramsey recovered a Krecklau fumble. On the next play Beau Van Vickle busted open a draw play for 30 yards and the game's final score.
Hunstad finished 12-26 passing for 167 yards and Van Vickle led the Huskies with 79 rushing yards on eight carries.
"We had a couple of bad fumbles, but they did, too," said Scearcy. "Things happen. Penalties at the wrong time hurt us, although, they had them, too. It was a tough one, but we'll rebound.
"There are many things we can get better on. We start a lot of young kids and what I mean by that is a lot of freshmen and sophomores and hopefully they will get better every single week. We should be a better team as we go along."
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Pillager 6 6 0 6 - 18
Pine River-Backus 7 7 7 0 - 21
First quarter
Pill-TJ Ahmann recovery in end zone (kick blocked) 3:48
PRB-Henry Krecklau 10 run (Nick Gravdahl kick) 1:54
Second quarter
Pill-Chris Ramsey 3 run (run failed) 4:02
PRB-Kiel Struss 3 pass from Zach Struss (Gravdahl kick) 39.2
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Third quarter
PRB-Krecklau 30 pass from Zach Struss (Gravdahl kick) 7:09
Fourth quarter
Pill-Beau Van Vickle 30 run (kick failed) 2:32
Team statistics
Rushes-yards: Pill 26-97, PRB 42-139
Pass comp-att-int-yds: Pill 12-26-1-167, PRB 15-25-2-181
Total offense: Pill 52-264, PRB 66-320
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Individual leaders
Rushing: Pill-Dillan Eischeid 8-25, Chris Gjovik 2-3, Beau Van Vickle 8-79, Chris Ramsey 5-15, Ryder Hunstad 3-(-25), PRB-Krecklau 28-128, Gravdahl 8-16, Zach Struss 6-(-5)
Passing: Pill-Ryder Hunstad 12-25-167, PRB-Struss 15-25-181
Receiving: Pill-Damian Fink 3-48, Gjovik 3-29, Van Vickle 2-32, Brian Mason 3-56, Hunter Haggerty 1-2, PRB-Hank Raph 5-61, Zach Semmler 3-53, Kiel Struss 4-37, Krecklau 3-30
