The Prairie Falcons had a scare as the lead narrowed to one score in the third quarter, but ultimately the Deven Vigue to Tommie Vick connection was strong with four touchdown passes for the Falcons in the 48-22 win over Washougal High School on Friday, Sept. 12.
Prairie quarterback Deven Vigue launched the ball all over the field against the Washougal defense but his connection with wide receiver Tommie Vick was the most potent. Vigue found Vick for the end zone twice in the first half and twice more in the third quarter.
Despite the Falcons’ dominance by air, after Washougal quarterback Tripp Leifsen got injured in the first half, the Washougal Panthers switched over to a dominant run game that narrowed the score to one possession as Prairie held on to the 30-22 lead for just a matter of seconds. The Falcons bounced right back with a kickoff return touchdown to flatten the sails of Washougal.
“We’re not going to get beat in the run game all season, so we’ve got options that we can go to now rather than just get beat every time,” Falcons head coach Junior Miller said of their own second half adjustments to the Panthers’ heavy ground game. “I’m so proud of the way these kids battled and the grit they played with and made sure that we closed this out like we did.”
To help with the run-stuffing defense, as well as some wrecking in the backfield, is someone that will be a four-year varsity starter for the Falcons. The Falcons freshman defensive lineman Issac Thoune had a key sack in the second half to keep the momentum going on Prairie’s side.
“He’s going to be a four-year varsity player for us,” Miller said. “Obviously he’s a big dude, a big kid that understands the game and has played a long time. Very coachable kid, and it’s just going to go up from here. His ceiling’s through the roof, you know. He’s going to continue to grow.”
Miller added that the Friday night reps for Thoune are great for his development.
On the offensive side of the ball, Miller said his team is dialed but will still have some mistakes as the team continues to grow in the young season. The defense for the Falcons is Miller’s most critical as the team gave up over 250 rushing yards in the Washougal matchup and the Falcons narrowly escaped Ridgefield in week one with a barn burner of 46-44 win as the Falcons defense did save the day in snuffing a two-point try.
But the biggest hole for the Falcons has been the lack of a kicking game. After each touchdown, they went for a two-point conversion.
“There’s some mistakes on both sides of the ball,” Miller said. “You know, we’re going to incorporate a kicking game here pretty shortly. We’ve got a couple of guys that actually showed up after I put it out that we don’t have a kicker.”
The Falcons will have a couple of Prairie soccer players join the team to kick, Miller said.
“So we’re going to start working that in to see if we need to use that,” he said. “I’m not gonna always go for two, kind of mix it up a little bit.”
Miller added that he would take his quarterback and skill guys against anybody in the county. Vigue and the high-flying Falcons will look to this Friday, Sept. 19, as the classic showdown of Battle Ground versus Prairie will commence at 7 p.m. at District Stadium.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Miller said. “I know Battle Ground’s got a good team offensively and defensively. We’re going to get to film tomorrow. We’re going to enjoy this one tonight and then we’ll prepare for Battle Ground and be ready to go.”
