The #4 Mid-Prairie boys soccer team punched their ticket to the state soccer tournament in Des Moines for the first time in school history with a dominating 5-1 win over #9 Albia Saturday in Wellman. Mid-Prairie took control of the game immediately with Wyatt Cady finding the back of the net just 50 seconds into the game. Nick Stimson doubled the Golden Hawk lead in the 7th minute and Stimson would score his second goal in the 25th minute helping Mid-Prairie sprint out to a 3-0 lead. Reserve Nolan Faselt came up with instant offense off the Golden Hawk bench when he scored in the 33rd minute to make it 4-0. The Blue Demons would steal some momentum going into the break when Caleb Gray beat Spencer Shalla on a great one touch goal to make it 4-1 at the half.

The second half didn’t feature the offensive fireworks of the first but Nick Stimson did complete his hat trick with a highlight reel header in the 51st minute to make the score 5-1 Golden Hawks. The hat trick was the first in Stimson’s high school career, he spoke after the match about the header goal.

“I think I made a crossing run with Wyatt and Austin was carrying the ball front post and he just lofted it up, and evidently Wyatt was right on my back and it was just right on my head, all I had to do was jump and put my head down a little bit, and it was in the back of the net,” Stimson.

When the clock showed zeros the Golden Hawks dogpiled near midfield, congratulated by the crowd with a line up on the field, and presented with their state qualifier banner. Following the match Head Coach Pat Cady talked about what this match means to his kids and the program.

“I’m so happy for the seniors like Spencer and Nick, they came back out. Two shot in the arm. We’ve got three games left, and we will take all of that senior leadership. The size the leadership, we’ll take everything we got and use it until we run out of gas,” Cady said. “It’s huge, I hope that we can draw some more athletes now.”

With the win Mid-Prairie is now 15-2 on the year and will be in action Thursday at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines. The Golden Hawks are the four seed and will face the fifth seeded and #7 ranked Bulldogs of Oakland Riverside. KCII will have that game live with pregame at 11:40, live from Des Monies.