The final Friday of August is here, and with it the start of the 2021 high school football season for most teams in Southeast Iowa. Opening the new year tonight are the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks as they host West Burlington Notre Dame. The Golden Hawks are coming off of a season that saw them finish 4-4, wrapping things up in the second round of the playoffs with an 18-15 loss to the Tipton Tigers. The Hawks lost an impressive senior class of 13 last year that included leading passer Vinnie Bowlin who was 56 of 126 for 855 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions under center in 2020, leading rusher Kayden Reinier who put up 1,271 yards on 151 carries with 17 touchdowns, and their top two receivers in Keegan Gingerich and Clarke Latchem who combined for 27 catches 519 yards and four touchdowns. Mid-Prairie does return their leading tackler, linebacker Justice Jones, who finished with 69 stops last year, 42 solo and 10.5 for loss.
West Burlington Notre Dame was 4-5 a season ago, and were also knocked out in the second round of the 2A postseason, ending the year against Williamsburg 35-0. The Falcons graduated a large group of seniors as well, matching Mid-Prairie’s 13. Despite that large number, the Falcons bring back a lot of experience and stats from last year, including quarterback Hayden Vandenberg who was 26 of 54 for 314 yards in the passing game with three touchdowns and four interceptions as a sophomore. His favorite target Brock Whitmore with five catches 167 yards and two touchdowns is also back. Leading rusher Travain Donaldson returns after a sophomore season that saw him finish with 1,324 yards and 16 touchdowns on 189 carries. Defensively, Notre Dame will be without their top two tacklers from last year with Anthony Hoffman and Ethan Eilers who combined for 85.5 stops and 7.5 tackles for loss in 2020.
The Golden Hawks faced West Liberty in a week 0 scrimmage on the 20th, West Burlington took on the Burlington Grayhounds in a tune up. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about what to expect from the Hawks’ week one opponent. “They have a top notch running back over there, kid is a pretty good player. They also have a good quarterback, big offensive line. It’s going to be a salty matchup. They are going to run the ball. I’m not sure how deep we are on defense, so it’s going to be a gut check for us. Hopefully we can control tempo and time of possession, play well and worry about ourselves.”
These two teams have met 10 times all-time with Mid-Prairie winning all ten including a 35-12 victory on senior night in 2020. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 6:30 and the Systems Unlimited kick-off at 7p.m. at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman.