A big first quarter and first half helped Mid-Prairie to a 27-13 non district football win Friday night at Clear Creek Amana.
The Hawks opened up the scoring with a 30 yard Austin Errthum field goal with 7:30 to play in the first following a CCA fumble. A second Clipper fumble led to points just one minute later when Reid Miller connected with Canaan Powell for a 26 yard touchdown strike running the score to 10-0.The Hawks would post more points in the first when Reid Miller called his own number on a two yard touchdown dive with 1:22 remaining in the period to make it 17-0 Hawks.
Following the game Head Coach Pete Cavanagh talked about the play off his offense and the mix in play calling.
“The early turnovers really helped our offense and gave us a little bit more flexibility to let us run what we want to run, and we were blocking early, so we were able to mix it up out there, the defense was giving us the flat route and we got nice passes out there by Reid [Miller] and Spencer Shalla and Zach Schwartz made some nice catches, so just able to move the ball and and get on early and turn those turnovers into points which is nice,” Cavanagh said.
The teams would play to a stalemate through most of the second quarter until a wild flurry in the final 30 seconds of the half. The Golden Hawks drew Clear Creek offsides on an Errthum field goal attempt but the Hawks chose to take the points off the board and go for the endzone on 4th and goal, they were stopped at the 2.
Following the turnover on downs Mid-Prairie scored anyway when Nile Rourke fired a pick six directly into the hands of Austin Slabaugh who returned it 14 yards to paydirt. Leading 24-0 at half Mid-Prairie saw the offense bog down in the red zone in the second half including a 105 interception return for touchdown by Clipper safety Tanner Bandy to make the score 24-7. Mid-Prairie put the game out of reach with a fourth quarter field goal and CCA added a touchdown in the final three minutes when Johnathan Nzombo rushed in from seven yards out.
Despite the problems in the red zone Mid-Prairie outgained Clear Creek 379 to 159, led by Eessa Baylor’s 77 yards on five carries. Reid Miller was 14 of 21 through the air for 214 yards, a score and a pick. His favorite target was Spencer Shalla who caught six passes for 79 yards.
With the win Mid-Prairie is now 1-1 on the year and will open up district play Friday at home against Central Lee.