Logos Knights slash past Pirates in WPL football

MOSCOW — After the Prairie Pirates improvised a fourth down conversion and scored on their opening drive, the Logos Knights rattled off 62 straight points to win a 2A Whitepine League football contest 62-20 on Friday in Moscow.

“They went the length of the field and they scored and our guys didn’t blink. They kept their composure,” Logos coach Nick Holloway said. “What I just told them ... is there’s a famous philosopher with a high squeaky voice who likes to say everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face — Mike Tyson — and they punched us in the face and we just kept punching back.”

Seamus Wilson = John Mateer?

Logos quarterback Seamus Wilson threw for 178 yards and ran for 134 yards for the Knights (5-1, 5-0). He tossed three touchdowns and ran for three scores that went at least 20 yards.

His dual-threat ability may remind some Palouse football fans of a quarterback about eight miles west at Washington State.

“I hadn’t thought of John Mateer; John Mateer is sensational,” Holloway said. “He’s such a great runner and he can throw the ball and Seamus (Wilson) is doing the same thing. Seamus is a great athlete. ... he knows the game, he’s got a great IQ for the game.”

The Logos quarterback missed last season recovering from a car accident, but since his return to the field, has lit up the Whitepine League and made plays with his arm and his legs.

Holloway said Wilson has played football since the third grade and puts in the time to study and run the offense efficiently.

Offensive lineman Gunnar Holloway leads an offensive front that makes it all possible.

“The biggest priority is to not let him get hit,” Gunnar Holloway said.

The Knights also had the benefit of several big-body receivers who beat their matchups and scored, including Dominic Porras, George Evans and Lucius Comis, who each caught a touchdown.

“I trust them, I know they can beat their matchups,” Wilson said of his wide receivers. “I’m just deciding which one to throw to.”

Knights’ defense, special teams combine to produce short fields

Once the Knights got grooving, especially in the second quarter, the majority of their offensive drives started on Prairie’s side of the field.

The Knights used these short-field situations to find the end zone almost every time. Wilson racked up multiple rushing touchdowns in these situations and fired deep balls to his receivers to rack up the scores for the Knights.

Nick Holloway said the credit for a lot of that success goes to his kicker for pushing multiple ball past the end zone on kickoffs and on the defense for holding the Pirates to short drives and forcing turnovers.

“We know special teams can make or break a game,” Gunnar Holloway said. “You have to have the mentality as a special teams player, ‘I’m gonna prove myself right here.’”

Prairie starts fast, finishes with high effort

The Prairie Pirates (3-2, 2-1) lined up to punt the ball on their opening drive, but their punter dropped the ball, picked it up and ran for the first down. With a fresh set of downs, the Pirates marched down the field and cashed in on a dime from quarterback Levi McElroy to Matt Wemhoff.

On Logos’ homecoming weekend in Moscow, the Prairie Pirates had jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

But the avalanche of Logos scores that followed shut down any semblance of hope for the Pirates. They trailed 62-6 in the fourth quarter.

With Logos’ backups in the game, Prairie capitalized on their inexperience with two touchdown drives, before they were turned away at the goal line on the last play of the game.

Prairie running back Dylan Uhlenkott provided the motor to Prairie’s fourth quarter offense, finding the end zone twice and racking up 76 of his approximately 86 yards in the second half.

“He had a good fourth quarter,” Prairie coach Ryan Hasselstrom said. “He ran hard during the whole game, but we just got outmatched.”

Outlook for Logos

Logos is keenly aware of its new Whitepine League opponent in Kendrick, waiting for it at the end of the season. Although the Knights are sticking with a game-by-game approach, they know that the road to accomplishing their team goals runs through Kendrick.

“We want to go after Kendrick,” Holloway said. “State playoffs and then a state championship is the goal.”

Said Wilson, “That’s gonna be a game. That’s gonna be a good game.”

Prairie 6 0 0 14—20

Logos 16 30 16 0—62

FIRST QUARTER

Prairie — Matt Wemhoff 25 pass from Levi McElroy (pass failed)

Logos — George Evans 15 pass from Seamus Wilson (Ben Carlson pass from Wilson good)

Logos — Wilson 23 run (Baxtor Covington run good)

SECOND QUARTER

Logos — Wilson 20 run (Lucius Comis pass from Wilson)

Logos — Wilson 25 run (pass failed)

Logos — Comis 35 pass from Wilson (Ryan Daniels pass from Wilson)

Logos — Dominic Porras 38 pass from Wilson (Covington run good)

THIRD QUARTER

Logos — Wilson 60 run (Wilson run good)

Logos — Jonathan Grauke 17 pass from Wilson (Honour Mallery run good)

FOURTH QUARTER

Prairie — Dylan Uhlenkott 17 run (Uhlenkott run good)

Prairie — Uhlenkott 6 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

PASSING — Prairie: Levi McElroy 6-12-2-85; Logos: Seamus Wilson 6-12-1-134.

RUSHING — Prairie: Dylan Uhlenkott 26-86 Logos: Seamus Wilson 10-178, Baxter Covington 6-42, Lucius Comis 1-4, Baxter Covington 6-42.

RECEIVING — Prairie: Matt Whemhoff 3-43, Chris Schumaker 3-42, Logos: Dominic Porras 2-63, Lucius Comis 1-35 Jonathan Grauke 1-17, George Evans 1-15 Ryan Daniels 1-12.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.