The Mid-Prairie football team opened 2019 Friday night at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman with fireworks early, but ultimately fell to Grinnell 47-20. Mid-Prairie struck early, in the game’s first 45 seconds when the Tigers fumbled the opening kick and Keegan Gingerich recovered at the Tiger 21. It took the Hawks two plays and Kayden Reinier was in the end zone from 10 yards out to put Mid-Prairie up 7-0. Grinnell answered three minutes later with a six play 46 yard drive capped by a Wyatt Hunter six yard touchdown run to tie the game at seven. On their next possession the Golden Hawks would take the lead back when Brad Tornow went up top to Keegan Gingerich for a 63 yard completion and score to make it 14-7 after one quarter. From there the game belonged to Grinnell.

The Tigers put up 40 consecutive points stretching into the fourth quarter with Wyatt Hunter hitting two big running plays of 53 and 38 yards for scores, the 38 yarder came as time expired in the first half, putting Grinnell up 21-14 going to the half. Out of the locker room, Mid-Prairie was without their starting quarterback Brad Tornow and the Golden Hawk offense couldn’t find traction. Grinnell put up a pair of scores in the third and fourth quarters to seal the game. Mid-Prairie added a late toutchdown in the game’s final two minutes on a Justice Jones one yard touchdown run. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about the start, and his team’s night. “You’re kicking off you figure you are going to be on defense for a while and that’s what we wanted. We got the turnover, followed it up with some nice plays and it was a good start. With their offense they put a lot of pressure on you to keep scoring with them. We traded turnovers early. We were locked in early, but gave up a big one before half.”

Grinnell outgained the Golden Hawks 507 to 286 on the night, including 286-116 on the ground. Hunter had 30 carries for 252 yards to lead Grinnell. Kayden Reinier had 16 carries and 86 yards to lead Mid-Prairie. Brad Tornow was seven of 15 for 153 yards and a score. With the loss, the Golden Hawks are now 0-1 on the season and will host Pekin on Friday.