The string of accomplishments continues to grow for this year’s edition of the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball. These Hawks hold the school record for longest winning streak and best start to a season at 23-0. They are ranked No. 2, the highest mark for the program in more than 30 years, they claimed the program’s first conference title in 13 years, and Tuesday night in Mount Pleasant they added another line to their impressive resume. Class 2A District 12 Champions. The Golden Hawks won their first district title since 2010 with a 69-40 blasting of West Burlington.

In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, the Golden Hawks held a slim lead early as they dominated the glass and tried to figure out the Falcon 1-3-1 defense. It was 13-11 Mid-Prairie after one and 30-22 Hawks at the break, keyed by a 15-6 first half burst. Jack Pennington continued his historic personal February. The Golden Hawk senior guard is having the best offensive stretch of his career averaging 17 points per game in his last six, that included 15 points in the first half alone Tuesday.

The second half was entirely controlled by the Golden Hawks. They outscored the Falcons 39-18 in total, leading by 20 going to the fourth quarter, stretching that to as many as 33 down the stretch and putting West Burlington through a near six minute drought in the process. Carter Harmsen followed Pennington’s cue from the first half, scoring 13 of his 19 points after the break. When the final whistle blew, the Golden Hawks had captured the school’s 19th overall district title. On the KCII postgame show, seniors Pennington, Will Cavanagh and head coach Daren Lambert, broke down how it happened.

Cavanagh spoke to the team’s intensity and shooting, “Every team is going to give you everything they’ve got because no one wants to end their season, it’s going to be a battle. We had to bring it tonight. Kelby (Bender, Mid-Prairie assistant coach), said it at halftime, season stats and record are out the window. It’s 1 v 1, whoever is the better team is going to win. I know (Coach) Lambert has a lot of confidence in me. On one of my shots he yelled ‘money’ as soon as I shot it. Kind of gives me a little boost every time.”

Pennington talked about the team’s scoring and gym atmosphere, “Those runs are just kind of who we are. We kind of get our offense in spurts and tonight, early we had a couple of good looks from three that we knocked down but the ball wasn’t moving as well as it could be. In the second half we got the ball swinging side-to-side and inside-outside. Everything was working for us. Our post guys were making shots, we were hitting threes. When we’re doing those things, we’re hard to beat. When  you look up here and we’re packing a 3A/4A gym full of our fans it’s pretty special. It feels good looking up here seeing a gym an hour away packed with Mid-Prairie fans.”

Lambert talked about the what it meant to the program and school, “This was a mindset at the beginning of the year. We were going to go out and make history. We put it on our shirts. At the end of the day though you have to go out and do the work. These kids have done that. Just extremely proud of them. There’s youth coaches, middle school coaches, fans, parents, we’re 23-0 and it’s not just the basketball team. It’s Mid-Prairie and it’s everyone that’s involved.”

The Golden Hawks shot 54% from the floor, knocked down six threes, shot 13 of 16 at the line, grabbed 37 rebounds, and dished out 15 team assists in the win. Pennington and Harmsen led the way with 20 and 19 points respectively. With the win, Mid-Prairie improves to an unblemished 23-0, West Burlington ends their season at 12-12. The Golden Hawks move on to Saturday’s substate final at Muscatine to play for a state tournament bid. They will face Northeast Goose Lake, who was a 54-41 winner over Camanche at Davenport Central Tuesday. The Golden Hawks beat the Rebels on their home court in conference play this year 60-55 in overtime. You can hear all of the action on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com Saturday as the Hawks play for their first state bid in 12 years.