The #13 Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks passed a stiff road test Friday night at Louisa-Muscatine coming from behind to beat the Falcons 24-16. This game featured turnovers, physical play, power running and defensive adjustments at half time by both sides. The Golden Hawks got on the board first when Reid Miller scored on a fourth and goal quarterback sneak from the one yard line with 2:28 to go to in the first quarter to make it 7-0. Neither school was afraid to roll the dice on fourth down combining for nine total attempts on the night.
Louisa-Muscatine would answer back quickly, in the first series the state’s leading rusher Brandon Tomer broke a tackle and rumbled 74 yards for the touchdown. The Falcon two point conversion was good and L&M lead 8-7. Mid-Prairie threw an interception at midfield on their next possession setting up a punishing 13 play 50 yard L&M drive that Tomer finished with a two yard scoring plunge to make it 16-7 Falcons after the two point try with 6:54 left in the first half.
Mid-Prairie would grab momentum back before the break when Reid Miller found Canaan Powell out of the backfield for a 19 yard scoring toss on third down to get Mid-Prairie within 16-14. In the final moments of the first half Falcon quarterback Austin Bohling tossed an interception that gave Mid-Prairie a chance at a 50 yard field goal attempt and the lead, but Austin Errthum’s kick would go wide left. At halftime Mid-Prairie focused on defensive adjustments and it paid off as the Golden Hawks held the Falcons off the scoreboard the rest of the game. After the game Head Coach Pete Cavanagh talked about his teams adjustments in the locker room, and defensive effort.
“I thought coach Murphy made some good adjustments and we were able to cutoff that kind of cut back run,” Cavanagh said. “[Tomer] is a good player, and they do a nice job scheme wise as far as getting on that power game and running behind that mass of humanity. and in the first half we were playing way too high and he got loose, but other than that I though we played pretty good football defensively, just turned the ball over too much.”
Mid-Prairie took the lead for good following an L&M special teams miscue where the punter kneeled on a bad snap setting the Golden Hawks up at the Falcon 37 yard line. Eesaa Baylor would cap the drive on the short field with a two yard touchdown run to make it 21-16 Mid-Prairie. The defenses controlled play until Mid-Prairie made it a full possession game late as Austin Errthum tacked on a 30 yard field goal with 7:25 to go in the game following a Ryan Cortum interception.
From that point the Mid-Prairie defense dug in and stopped the Falcon’s power running attack to secure the win including two final fourth down stops, the last of which came after an officiating error that awarded Louisa-Muscatine a fourth timeout in the half. Mid-Prairie won despite being outgained 244-206, and losing the time of possession battle by nearly 10 minutes. The Golden Hawks were led by Baylor’s 91 yards and 19 carries with a score. Miller was 10 of 16 through the air for 84 yards with a pick and a score. Tomer led L&M with another big night racking up 169 yards on 30 carries and a pair of touchdowns. Mid-Prairie is now 3-1 overall, winners of three in a row and 2-0 in class 2A district five. Mid-Prairie will next be in action outside of the district Friday when they host Tipton.