Pirates fight hard, fall to Notre Dame

KAPLAN – The task was one not many teams can perform.
Coach Stephen “Tank” Lotief’s Kaplan Pirates were the latest to try to derail the Notre Dame Pioneers, hosting the Pios on Friday for homecoming, and they were halfway home to an upset.
But, after trailing just 7-6 at halftime with a stirring drive, Kaplan failed to score in the second half as the Pios walked away relieved with a hard-fought 20-6 victory.
“We did what we know to do,” Lotief said. “We do what we do. In the second half, we couldn’t put together any drives. So, we’re 2-3. We were 2-3 last year, too (rebounding to reach the state semifinals).
“We have to try to get better. We will get better. We’ve got some holes we need to fill.”
“They weren’t scared of us,” Pios coach Lewis Cook said. “The last two years they were in the semifinals on this field, so I don’t think they were scared. They played us as hard as anybody has.”
Notre Dame executed a bone-crunching 17-play, 81-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead with 3:07 remaining in the second quarter – the cue for many Pios foes to begin to wilt.
But Nathan Sistrunk escaped for 36 yards with the ensuing kickoff to the KHS 37 to provide a wake-up call.
Drake Abshire picked up 15 yards on first down, Mason Frick hit Logan Roy for 13 yards to the ND 31 for another first down and a 9-yard Braylon Romero run notched the 16.
Four plays later Abshire slashed in from the one to close the gap to a single point 32 seconds before half. A two-point conversion failed, but the Pirates looked revived.
“We work on special teams,” Lotief said. “That return (by Sistrunk) sparked us a little bit, but not enough.”
“We know we have some things to work on (in special teams),” Cook said. “They did a good job on returns tonight.”
Kaplan had momentum and received the second-half kickoff, but two straight unsuccessful possessions were followed by Pioneer touchdown drives of 68 and 59 yards, and the decision was in the works.
The Pirates mustered just 51 yards of offense after halftime.
Quintlan Cobb and Beau Mathews led the defensive charge that set the tone for the evening, forcing a pair of early ND punts, before the visitors found their rhythm and scored.
Abshire, whose first punt soared 56 yards to reverse early field position, rushed 14 times for 48 yards and the lone TD. He also returned two kickoffs for 51 yards.
But the Pirates couldn’t capitalize and fell to 2-3 again.
They’ve been here before and emerged as contenders. Time will tell if they can go there again.