While high school students often create long-lasting memories during homecoming week, the actual Friday night football game is going to be something Cardinals fans hope to quickly forget.

The Prescott Cardinals football team struggled in multiple phases against Amery on Friday, Sept. 23, throughout the annual homecoming game. The 36-7 loss drops Prescott to 2-4 overall for the season and 1-3 in Middle Border Conference games this year.

Perhaps Prescott’s biggest issue throughout the Amery game was slowing down the Warriors’ rushing attack. Amery junior run- ning back Koy Hopke had a field day against Prescott and quickly quieted a previously rocking Cardinals home crowd.

Hopke got the Warriors on the board first when he followed blockers and shed a few Prescott defenders en route to a 26-yard touchdown run to give Amery a 7-0 lead with approximately two minutes left in the first quarter.

Prescott’s ouense continued to struggle to start the second quarter and gave the ball back to Amery. The Warriors wasted no time breaking the game open, as junior wide receiver Kruse Yuhas took a jet sweep 47-yards to the house. The score gave Amery a 15-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.

Prescott’s lone score came in response to that explosive Amery possession. The Cardi- nals drove down the field before sophomore running back Barrett Temmers crossed the goal line on a two-yard touchdown run to make it a 15-7 contest.

However, it was again Amery’s rushing attack that proved to be too much for Prescott to handle. The Warriors’ ouensive line opened another massive hole that the aforementioned Yuhas sprinted through. He followed the daylight all the way to the endzone, which gave Amery a 22-7 halftime lead.

The Warriors proceeded to score 14 additional unanswered points, which came via two Hopke rushing touchdowns – one in the third quarter and the second midway through the fourth quarter. The Warriors cruised to a 36-7 victory in front of a stunned Prescott home crowd.

By the time the clock hit triple zeroes, Prescott had allowed 400 rushing yards and five touchdowns in the week six loss. Amery’s Hopke alone accounted for 231 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 31 total carries. While Hopke served as the bellcow back, the aforementioned Yuhas also tallied 148 rushing yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries.

Prescott’s Temmers provided the only no- table ouensive production. He finished the game with 88 rushing yards and a touchdown coming via 19 carries. Throughout the season, Prescott head coach Jordan Hansen has spoken about the youth on his roster, which featured several sophomore starters at key positions on both sides of the ball.

Perhaps, the struggles against Amery and some of the other Middle Border Conference teams can be attributed to that youth and inexperience on the Cardinals’ roster. Regardless, Prescott is scheduled to face a gauntlet of great teams in the next three weeks of league play.

The Cardinals are slated to play on the road against Baldwin-Woodville on Friday, Sept. 30. The following week Prescott hosts the 5-1 Ellsworth Panthers, and then the Car- dinals finish the regular season on the road against the Rice Lake Warriors.

Two out of the final three games will be against a team that played in a state championship game last fall in Madison. Prescott is going to have to produce a couple of great performances in the next three weeks if the Cardinals want any chance of making the 2022 postseason.

That journey will begin on Friday, Sept. 30, on the road against the 4-1 Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks. That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.