Many around the White Pine League might joke that Ryan Hasselstrom and the Prairie Pirates don’t need much help on the football field. The team has won three state titles in the past six years at the 1A Division I level, winning 60 of its 67 football games in that span.

But this season’s edition of the Pirates squad returns Cole Martin, the reigning 1A Division 1 State Player of the Year. Martin ran for over 1,600 yards, averaging close to 11 yards per carry, and scored 24 touchdowns. He also intercepted six passes, returning three for touchdowns, as a junior. All of those numbers were accumulated in a season where he rarely played entire games; the Pirates only won one game (the state championship game) by fewer than 28 points and topped 70 points five times en route to a perfect 11-0 season.

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