Sometimes the numbers do lie. In a game statistically dominated by the #10 in class 1A Tipton Tigers Friday night Mid-Prairie spoiled their homecoming party with a 14-7 road win. Mid-Prairie opened the scoring with 3:56 left to go in the first frame on a one yard touchdown run by Eessa Baylor on 4th down, the second 4th down conversion of the drive for Mid-Prairie. The Tigers answered with a tying one yard touchdown run by bruising fullback Chandler Harden capping a 10 play 57 yard drive at the 8:11 mark of the first quarter. Harden finished the night with 175 yards on 26 carries. That’s when Mid-Prairie came through with a special teams X factor for the second straight week as Ryan Hoffman raced 90 yards up the far sideline to give Mid-Prairie a 14-7 lead they would take into the locker room.

The second half was a defensive struggle with Mid-Prairie shuffling formations trying to stop the Tipton option attack. Tipton outgained the Hawks on the ground, in the air, in total yards, won time of possession and had more redzone trips but when it mattered most the Golden Hawk defense answered the bell at each opportunity, stopping Tipton four times on fourth down in the final quarter including three times within the Mid-Prairie 30. Mid-Prairie would put the final nail in the coffin with a Reid Miller interception in Golden Hawk territory in the final 20 seconds.

Mid-Prairie was led by Baylor’s 130 yards on 18 carries and a score, Reid Miller was 4 of 11 through the air for 61 yards. The loss was Tipton’s first of the year and is Mid-Prairie’s fourth consecutive win, running their record to 4-1. The Golden Hawks will next be in action Friday when they return to district play at Columbus against the Wildcats. Tune in for pregame at seven and kickoff at 7:30 on the one to count on KCIIRadio.com.