The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team is entering their final week of preparation before their 2016 opener Friday night against Louisa-Muscatine.

Mid-Prairie is coming off of an 8-3 2015 season that ended in the second round of the playoffs. The Golden Hawk offense was one of the best in the state in last year, ranking in the top 10 in class 2A in rushing yards with 2,376, 5.3 yards per carry, yards per pass completion at 18.5, and team quarterback rating at 132.6.

On the ground, it was a two man attack in 2015, led by Ricky Vargas, who brings back his team high 911 yards, 11 touchdowns and 7.7 yard per carry average from a season ago. The Hawks did graduate Nolan Faselt and his 868 yards and 10 touchdowns from last year’s team. Following a late season injury to Vargas, Faselt became the team’s workhorse in the backfield. Through the air, Mid-Prairie graduated quarterback Ryan Cortum who finished with 1,035 yards throwing and nine touchdowns. Cortum’s favorite target a season ago was fellow senior Blake Schwartz who finished with 514 yards on 25 catches with four touchdowns. Mid-Prairie does return their second leading receiver in tight end and University of Iowa football commit Levi Duwa, who finished his junior season in 2015 with 20 catches for 359 yards and four touchdowns.

Mid-Prairie opens the season Friday night at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman when they host the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons. You can hear all of the action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 6:30 and kickoff at 7PM.