For the second straight game Mid-Prairie built and early lead and rode their running game to victory. In a game heard on KCIIradio.com the Golden Hawks opened up the playoffs with a 24-7 win over Prairie City Monroe in Wellman. Mid-Prairie posted 21 points in the first half led by a pair of scores from Junior running back Eesaa Baylor, the first coming from 18 yards out at the 1:54 mark of the first quarter to finish a five play 45 yard drive, the second just five minutes later from 37 yards out on a sweep around the right side. Baylor spoke after the game about his big night.

“Well put it most on the o-line and my fullback Canan Powell good lead blocks,” Baylor said. “I did what I did and ran hard and got a touchdown, It’s just the emotion, it’s playoff football, one loss and you’re done so I figured leave everything on the field, go hard or go home.”

PCM threatened to get back in it cutting the MP lead to 14-7 with two minutes left in the half when Blake McWilliams found pay dirt from four yards out but the Golden Hawks took momentum back as the two minute offense quickly drove the field and Reid Miller found Ryan Hoffman in the corner of the endzone for a 13 yard touchdown pass with just 26 seconds left before intermission.

The second half saw Mid-Prairie take control with long drives and more defensive pressure. The Golden Hawks posted the only points of half number two with three minutes left in the third quarter when Austin Errthum put one through the uprights from 40 yards away. From there Mid-Prairie dug in defensive to close out the Mustangs and Freshman quarterback Logan Gilman who got his first career start. Offensively Mid-Prairie was led by a monster night from Eesaa Baylor who carried the ball 23 times for 187 and a pair of scores, through the air Miller was 10 of 16 for 120 yards and a score. Following the game Head Coach Pete Cavanagh spoke about his team’s performance

“We talked all week about being able to play defense, run the football and playing solid on special teams, and for the most part we did that, at times it was ugly tonight, we had some lack of execution on some offensive plays, but I thought our offensive line played well, especially the first half,” Cavanagh said. “Really our corners have played well, Ryan Hoffman and Austin Errthum have played really well all year, we just haven’t had a lot of opportunities.”

“We don’t play a lot of teams that throw it too much, we had our chances tonight, we finally had [an interception] at the end of the game, I thought Runcimon played well at free safety came up and hit some people, give them credit they ran the ball hard, but we were able to shut them down in the second half.”

With the win Mid-Prairie improves to 8-2 and advances to the second round of the playoffs Monday night when they travel to #7 Bondurant-Farrar. The Blue Jays had to hold off Louisa-Muscatine in round one action last night winning by a 34-28 final. You can hear all of the action between the Golden Hawks and the Blue Jays Monday night live from Bondurant on KCIIradio.com with pregame at 6:30 and kickoff at 7PM.