PR forces 4 turnovers in victory over Jacobs
Randy Knipfel always kidded with his younger brother Brad about the fact that he grabbed an interception.
In Saturday's season opener at Jacobs, Brad Knipfel, now a starting defensive end for Prairie Ridge, one-upped his older brother by not only picking off Golden Eagles' quarterback Kyle Magnuson, but returning the interception 21 yards for a touchdown. Knipfel's pick was one of 4 turnovers the Wolves forced in the first half of their 35-14 nonconference win.
"We spent a lot of time in the off-season talking about our defense," Wolves' coach Chris Schremp said. We emphasized stripping the ball and getting turnovers."
The defense, which was put into action two years ago, looked like its hard work had paid off in the first half.
Junior linebacker Brad Young picked up a fumble to end Jacobs' first drive. The Wolves used the turnover to initiate an 8-play, 70-yard drive that was capped off by Joe Rategan's 30-yard touchdown run.
Young led the Wolves with 8 tackles, including 3 for loss and a fumble recovery.
"We were not that good of a defense last season," Young said. "All off-season we've been keying on turning turnovers into our favor. We came out and showed what we were made of."
Sam Campbell (19 carries, 115 yards) ran in a 19-yard touchdown in the first half to extend the Wolves' lead to 13-0 with 4:39 left in the first quarter.
Jacobs had success early going to running back Darius Bowers, who finished with 197 yards. Bowers broke off a 79-yard scoring run with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in the first quarter to bring the game to 13-6. The senior, who finished with 197 yards on 13 carries, had a chance to score earlier in the period after he broke loose to inside the Prairie Ridge 10-yard line. A block in the back negated his effort and Young would recover the fumble to end the drive.
"We had some big plays here and there, but we didn't execute with consistency," Jacobs' coach Dean Schlueter said. "We have to get better at that."
The Wolves' defense thrived on consistency.
The defense might not have forced turnovers in the second half, but it came up big. Jacobs' first possession of the second half ended when Young slammed Bowers behind the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-2. The Golden Eagles' next two series ended with a punt and turnover on downs, before Magnuson ran in from 4 yards out with 10:40 left in the game to cut the Wolves' lead to 35-14.
Quarterback Bryan Bradshaw scored a 6-yard touchdown with 2:49 left in the third to put the Wolves up 35-6. Cameron Elkin scored on a 32-yard run to make it 28-6 Wolves in the third.