For the second consecutive week the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team pitched a shut out and scored another district win, taking down Eddyville-Blakesburg 55-0 Friday at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman. The fireworks started early Friday, with Keegan Gingerich returning the opening kick 94 yards for a touchdown, giving Mid-Prairie a 7-0 lead before fans had settled in their seats. After a Rocket drive that went nine yards in the wrong direction thanks to the Golden Hawk defense, Mid-Prairie marched 80 yards on nine plays, finishing with a Kayden Reinier 21 yard scoring run to double the Golden Hawk lead to 14-0.
The Rockets Thane Alexander was picked off by Cain Brown to end their next possession and Mid-Prairie turned the takeaway into points when Reinier finished a five play 29 yard drive with a 13 yard scoring run to make it 21-0. That’s where the score stood after one quarter. In the second frame, the Hawks kept adding on. Cael Garvey visited the end zone for the first time this year to finish a four play 39 yard drive to make it 28-0 Golden Hawks. Reinier added two more scoring runs before half, a 10 yard touchdown and a 66 yard scamper to give the Hawks a 42-0 lead at the break.
With the running clock enacted in the first half, the second half rolled by quickly but Mid-Prairie did find the end zone twice more. The first, coming midway through the third quarter when Tyler Helmuth punched it in from six yards out to make it 48-0 and the final score came by air with Will Cavanagh connecting with Jack Pennington on a 20 yard deep out to run the total to 55-0. After the contest, Golden Hawk head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about the fast start and his team’s ground game and defense over the last two weeks. “Keegan Gingerich is capable of that. We had a return left on, so he went right of course, and did a nice job. That sparked us. Got us rolling, got the guys on the sideline juiced. I think our defensive line is playing exceptionally well right now. Guys like Cael Garvey, Michael Kelly, Josh Wallington, and Ben Meader have really been getting into the backfield. We’ve got kids in the right spot. I thought Justice Jones also had a good game tonight. Great to control the line of scrimmage on defense. Offensively, we are trying to build more variety, but once the game gets out of hand, you have to go back to the ground and pound a little bit. I thought our kids did a good job. Guys like Garvey at fullback, it was good to see him get in the end zone and Reinier is breaking tackles this year which is good to see.”
Mid-Prairie posted 22 first downs to just two for the Rockets. The Hawks outgained EBF 456 to -9 on the night including 362 to -22 on the ground. Kayden Reinier led Mid-Prairie with nine carries for 150 yards and four scores. Cain Brown caught three passes for 39 yards. The Golden Hawk defense had seven tackles for loss, three from Terry Bordenave, while Justice Jones had four total stops to lead the way. With the victory, the Golden Hawks stand at 2-1 on the season as they get ready to travel to No. 2 Williamsburg.