Sat Sep 14 03:56:00 UTC 2024: ## Hannibal Pirates Fall Short in Close Loss to Troy Buchanan
**TROY, MO** – The Hannibal Pirates fell to the Troy Buchanan Trojans 35-29 in a hard-fought contest Friday night. Despite a strong performance from running back Mike Ferreira, who rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, the Pirates couldn’t overcome crucial mistakes that cost them the game.
“It just sucks to play such a good game to give up one of these games where we shot ourselves in the foot,” said Hannibal head coach Jeff Gschwender. “We threw away a couple of big opportunities.”
The Pirates kept pace with the Trojans throughout the game, even tying the score after an initial Trojan touchdown and coming within one point in the second quarter. They closed the gap to four points in the fourth quarter, but a late safety by the Trojans and subsequent run out of the clock sealed their fate.
“The main thing we’ve been telling the kids is that we lost two games we really feel we should’ve won had we been able to make the plays when those opportunities presented themselves,” Gschwender continued. “That’s what championship teams do.”
Other key contributors for the Pirates included quarterback Waylon Anders, who threw for 108 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a touchdown. Receiver Darrion Washington added 92 receiving yards and a score, and also shined on kickoff returns.
On defense, Kade Hoskins led the way with 12 tackles, a forced fumble, and a recovery. “Kade was a freaking stud,” said Gschwender. “He played great at safety and tackled well.”
The Pirates will look to bounce back next week as they open North Central Missouri Conference play on the road against the Fulton Hornets (0-3).
“We start conference play next week and the kids are excited for it,” said Gschwender. “Right now, we are kind of licking our wounds, but our kids know we have extremely high expectations. We expect to come out this week of practice and make sure we don’t have those mistakes.”
First Piper 