By Kyle Botermans, Janiya Lapat, and Courtney Baker

October 30th, 2015

Pirates Fall in conference

When a team gets the opportunity to redeem themselves for past failure, there’s always an additional amount of pressure in the air. The Pirates got their chance for revenge against the Mazama Vikings in the Skyline Conference Championship last Friday at Phoenix, but for the third time in two years, they failed to accomplish the goal at hand. A competitive first half was highlighted by a touchdown ran by the Mazama quarterback, Curtis Anderson, and another touchdown as time expired in the second quarter. Although they had a few opportunities, the Pirates failed to get any productive offense rolling. The one long run for the Pirates came from a touchdown provided by Kyle Sell, but the run was called back due to a holding penalty that aided the Vikings to a shutout half. After reenergizing from the traditional Samoan Haka, the Pirates prepared for a different outcome in the second half. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t gain any traction as Justin Knight and the team were held scoreless for the first time in the 2015 season. The passing offense was nonexistent and the run game did not function up to expectations. The game ended with a 25-0 shutout for the Vikings who, for the second year in a row, won the conference championship with an undefeated conference record. Luckily, the season doesn’t end there for the Pirates as they have earned a home play-in game this Friday against North Marion. The Pirate offense looks to bounce back and put up some impressive points in this important game to determine who will advance into the first real round of OSAA 4A playoffs.