The ugliest win is better than the prettiest loss.
In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, there were no style points but the game went in the “W” column and that’s the most important thing that came out of Friday for the #13 Mid-Prairie football team as they held off Louisa-Muscatine 13-0 in their district opener. With Friday night the 14th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks both the Mid-Prairie and L-M athletic departments put together a veterans recognition evening.
In the first half, action revolved around the field position game. Despite owning the advantage in that category, including starting three drives on the Falcon side of the 50 Mid-Prairie mounted just one scoring drive. Following a scoreless first quarter, and an injury to starting quarterback Ryan Cortum that did not allow him to return, reserve quarterback Karson Gingerich and running back Ricky Vargas led the Hawks on a three play 35 yard drive that ended with a Vargas 26 yard touchdown run around the left end and gave Mid-Prairie their first lead at 6-0 following a missed two point conversion. At the half Mid-Prairie had the advantage in first downs eight to one, rushing yards 109-23 and total yards 168-31 but still held their slim 6-0 lead.
The second half was more of the same, with the field position battle beginning to turn Louisa-Muscatine’s way. The Hawks were turned away twice more in the red zone in the third quarter, while the Falcons saw their first chance in the red zone pass by with no points as well, leaving the score at 6-0 going to the final period. Midway through the fourth quarter L-M started a drive inside of the Mid-Prairie 40 and had appeared to tie the game at six when Jake Hillard found Aaron Bohling for a touchdown on the fade route from 20 yards out but behind the play a penalty flag for illegal use of hands to the face erased the game tying score and the Falcon momentum. On the rest of the drive Louisa-Muscatine was penalized once more and would lose six more yards before turning the ball over on downs. The Hawks seized the opportunity, taking over the ball with just over six minutes to go in the game, Mid-Prairie marched down the field on a methodical 10 play 62 yard drive that bled 4:11 off the clock and ended with Vargas’ second touchdown run of the night to put the game out of reach at 13-0 with just two minutes left.
On the night Mid-Prairie was led by the workhorse effort of Ricky Vargas, he carried the ball 23 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron Tolander led Mid-Prairie defensively with 12 tackles as the Hawks pitched their first shut out of the season. With the loss L-M is now 2-1 overall and 0-1 in district play as they travel to Williamsburg next week. With the win Mid-Prairie improves to a perfect 3-0 overall and 1-0 in district play. The #13 Golden Hawks are set to host top 10 West Burlington next week for homecoming at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman and you can hear all of the action on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 7PM.