Bliss a winner in Prairie debut

MARION - They sought a gate. It was locked.

So they jumped the fence.

Cedar Rapids Prairie rallied from an early 10-point deficit and made a winner of Mark Bliss in his Prairie debut Saturday evening, downing Linn-Mar, 31-17, in a Class 4A non-district football game Saturday at Linn-Mar Stadium.

'In the first game, against a rival, you have to expect some adversity,” Bliss said. 'The kids maintained the course. They rebounded, and they did a nice job.”

When the victory was complete and the postgame handshakes were delivered, the Hawks trotted to the southeast corner of the stadium.

The gate was locked, but the Hawks (1-0) mustered enough energy to hop the 4-foot fence and celebrate with their fans.

'This feels great,” said Prairie quarterback Tyler Nunemaker, who connected on a pair of long touchdown passes in the comeback effort. 'Last year, we started off with Linn-Mar at our place, and they got us pretty good.”

It looked that way again through the first quarter Saturday. The Lions (0-1) dominated on both sides of the ball, built a 10-0 lead and were threatening for more when a single play flipped momentum.

After a potential back-breaking drive for the Lions stalled at the Prairie 27, Martavian Borseth blocked Alexy Boehm's 43-yard field goal attempt.

Prairie started near midfield, and the rally was under way.

'That was huge,” Bliss said. 'Absolutely huge. It switched the field and gave us the field position in which we could go down and score.”

Seven plays later, Trevor Northrup bulled into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown. The Hawks' defense got a stop, then Nunemaker found a wide-open Joseph Meyer in the middle of the field, and Prairie owned a 14-10 advantage at halftime.

'We had (three receivers) to the right, and our motion threw them off and opened up the middle,” Nunemaker said. 'We needed one play to get us going, and the blocked field goal was definitely that play.”

Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth said, 'We just made too many mistakes. I don't want to take anything away from Prairie, but we made too many mistakes to win this game.

'This will be tough to look at (on film), because we had our chances.”

Nunemaker made another big play to start the second half, hitting Boston Riley for a 61-yard bomb. Joel Collett's 26-yard field goal capped a run of 24 straight points, extending the advantage to 24-10.

Reese Phillips hooked up with Josh Gassmann for their second TD pass-and-catch, a 60-yarder that brought the Lions within 24-17. Linn-Mar had a potential game-tying drive stall at the Prairie 30, then the Hawks drove for the clinching score, a 5-yard touchdown run by Northrup.

Prairie prevailed despite the Lions' 392-332 advantage in yards. Phillips passed for 224 yards, Nunemaker for 174.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but postponed due to thunderstorms.

Prairie hosts Cedar Rapids Jefferson next week. Linn-Mar is at Pleasant Valley.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com