The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team opens the home portion of their schedule Friday when they welcome the Wilton Beavers to Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman.
The Golden Hawks are 0-2 on the young season after falling to Grinnell and Pekin on the road in back to back weeks to start the year, most recently to the Panthers 35-7 last Friday. In that game, Mid-Prairie was led by Jaron Utzinger with seven carries for 62 yards. Grant Boyse added a kickoff return for touchdown. On the season the Golden Hawks are led by Brad Tornow under center. He is 15 of 44 for 181 yards, four interceptions and one touchdown. His favorite target is Justin Schwartz with eight catches for 75 yards. On the ground Schwartz leads the way with 112 yards on 27 carries. Schwartz and Boyse are the team’s leading tacklers, each with 14 stops on the year.
Wilton comes into the matchup with an overall record of 2-0, beating Durant 27-13 in week one and Northeast Goose Lake 50-8 last Friday. In their win over the Rebels, the Beavers were led by Jerome Mays who was 15 of 21 through the air for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those went to Cory Anderson who made seven total grabs for 65 yards. Collin McCrabb led the Wilton ground game with 12 carries for 100 yards and a score. On the year, Mays is 25 of 42 for 222 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His favorite target is Anderson with 11 total catches for 117 yards and a pair of scores. On the ground McCrabb leads Wilton with 34 carries for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Mid-Prairie head football coach Pete Cavanagh talked this week about what his team needs to improve on and what stands out when scouting Wilton. “A lot of good things, early first half and especially third quarter I thought we played hard and were in spots to make plays. Pekin’s momentum built in the second quarter and we just weren’t able to bounce back. There are a lot of correctable things and our kids have a good attitude. Wilton is a little more familiar than Pekin and Grinnell, but we haven’t played them in a while in football. We’ve had a long rivalry with these guys throughout the years while I have been coach here. They have a good group of seniors. Some really good athletes, including their quarterback and they had a great year last year.”
These two teams last met in the 2011 playoffs with Wilton scoring a 42-20 win at home. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the KCII Football Friday Preview show at 6p.m., Washington HyVee pregame show at 7p.m. and kickoff at 7:30 in Wellman.