Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Social Media
The final week of the regular season has arrived and the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team will make the long road trip to Bloomfield tonight with homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs on the line against the Davis County Mustangs on their Senior Night.
Both teams are 4-3 on the season with matching 3-1 records in district, both falling to Williamsburg for their lone loss. Mid-Prairie two weeks ago on the Raiders Homecoming 24-21, Davis County last week in Bloomfield 41-8. The Golden Hawks took care of business against the Centerville Big Reds last week on Senior Night in Wellman 42-21. The Hawks had 389 yards of total offense in the win with Will Cavanagh throwing for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Braden Hartley finished with 15 carries for 129 yards and a score. The Mid-Prairie defense turned Centerville over five times with Hartley recovering two fumbles and picking off a pass. On the year, Mid-Prairie averages 364 yards per game including 218 on the ground and 146 through the air. The Hawks post 39 points per game while they give up just 18. Mid-Prairie is +5 in turnover margin on the season. Individually, Will Cavanagh is the leader for the Hawks through the air at 64 for 100 for 847 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. He leads 2A in completion percentage. His favorite target is Jack Pennington with 24 catches for 263 yards and three scores. On the ground, Tyler Helmuth has 51 carries for 484 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is third in the state at just under 10 yards per carry and fourth with 12 rushing touchdowns. Defensively, Justice Jones leads the Hawks with 48 and a half tackles, nine for loss.
Last week in their loss to Williamsburg, Davis County was outgained 454 to 307 in total yards and committed a pair of turnovers. They are averaging 411 yards per game, 235 on the ground and 176 through the air. The Mustangs are scoring 35 points per game while giving up 25. Their number of takeaways and giveaways are even on the year. Individually, they are led by Carson Maeder under center at 85 of 145 for 1,163 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. His favorite target is Tayden Bish with 27 catches for 383 yards and five touchdowns. On the ground Gavin McCall has 95 carries for 810 yards and six scores. On defense, Hoyt Dzwoniarski has 48 tackles for the year. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about what he saw on film from the Mustangs and the postseason implications for this game. “They run and pass. They like to mix it up and spread you. I compare them quite a bit to us in what we like to do and how we run our plays offensively. They have been efficient in moving the ball. In most of their games they are scoring well over 30 points. This is the second week in a row where we have faced a really good offense and I expect our defense to step up again. Our kids know what’s at stake tonight. Every game is important, maybe for a different reason. Due to injuries for us, a lot of guys on the field don’t have a lot of varsity experience, so they are going out there and running around and playing hard with the idea that it’s another game, let’s go play it. I’m okay with that as long as they know their assignments. We have to play well to win, so hopefully we can play at home next week.”
Mid-Prairie has won four straight over the Mustangs including a 63-6 win in Wellman in 2019. The winner of this game hosts a home playoff game next week, the loser is on the road. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com tonight, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 7p.m. and Systems Unlimited Kickoff at 7:30 on Senior Night in Bloomfield.