The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team saw their 2020 season draw to a close Friday in the second round of the class 2A playoffs, falling to the Tipton Tigers 18-15 at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman. Mid-Prairie controlled action early, forcing Tipton punts on the game’s first three possessions while starting all three of their own first drives on the Tigers side of the field. Despite running their first 31 plays of the game in enemy territory, reaching the red zone three times, Mid-Prairie couldn’t come away with any points, leaving the game scoreless after one quarter and watching Tipton get on the board first in the second with a three play 76-yard drive that was finished by a Payten Elijah 22 yard scoring run to make it 6-0 Tipton after a failed point after.

The Golden Hawks thought they had the answer on their next possession but a 16 yard Kayden Reinier touchdown run was called back for holding and the Hawks were turned away with no points in the red zone. Next time with the ball the Tigers would double their lead, finishing an eight play, 43-yard drive with a Lake Anderson touchdown run from inside the two, making it 12-0 Tipton with under a minute left in the first half. Despite a late fumble by the Hawks, that’s where the score stayed going to halftime. Mid-Prairie started the second half with the ball and went three and out quickly. On Tipton’s first play from scrimmage in the second half Elijah raced 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers their largest lead of the night at 18-0. From there, Mid-Prairie began to chip away. Next time with the ball, the Hawks covered 68 yards on nine plays, finishing with a Vinny Bowlin four yard scoring run, a two point conversion to Cain Brown from Will Cavanagh made it 18-8. The Mid-Prairie defense put together a three and out, but the Golden Hawks gave the ball right back to the Tigers with a pick on their next series.

Going to the fourth quarter down 10, Mid-Prairie drove to the Tipton 41 but turned the ball over on downs, unable to convert fourth and seven. After stopping the Tigers, the Hawks put together a 13 play 60 yard touchdown drive where Bowlin scored from five yards out to pull Mid-Prairie within three. The Golden Hawks were unable to recover the inside kick with just two minutes left, and the Tigers got one first down to run out the clock. After the game, Golden Hawk head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about what he saw. “Early on especially, our front guys played well and we were able to contain them inside, make some tackles and then force them into some punting situations where we got good field position. Offensively, it was the same story as it has been most of the year, we struggled inside the red zone to finish drives with touchdowns. I thought at times we looked good running the ball, at other times we didn’t. That inconsistency is what we have been fighting all year. Credit Tipton too, they are a solid defensive team. It’s hard to give a team like Tipton an 18 point lead like that then try to come back and win the game. This group of seniors has been a solid group that understand football and want to play it at a high level. They are a fun group to coach,and there are a lot of good football players in that class. They will be tough to try to replace.”

Tipton outgained the Golden Hawks 278-274, Mid-Prairie had 16 first downs to 10 for the Tigers. Mid-Prairie was hurt by a pair of turnovers, and a one of five conversion rate on fourth down. Bowlin led the Mid-Prairie offense with 191 all-purpose yards, 123 of that on the ground with 22 carries and a pair of scores. Elijah led Tipton with 14 carries 143 yards and two touchdowns. Justice Jones had 12 and a half tackles, two and a half for loss to lead the Mid-Prairie defense. With the loss, the Golden Hawks wrap up their season at 4-4. They say goodbye to 13 seniors including Clarke Latchem, Nathan Quinby, Vinny Bowlin, Kayden Reinier, Keegan Gingerich, Luke Boyse, Jake Swartzendruber, Ben Meader, Josh Wallington, Joe Allred, Conner Shalla, and Michael Kelly.