Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Basketball Social Media

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team has one more test to pass on their quest for a bid to the 2022 Class 2A state tournament. The Golden Hawks will face Northeast Goose Lake Saturday in the 2A Substate finals at Muscatine High School. The Hawks have rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs, including a district title victory 69-40 over West Burlington Tuesday night in Mt. Pleasant with Jack Pennington posting 20 points and Carter Harmsen 19. Mid-Prairie is 23-0 and ranked No. 2 in the final 2A poll of the year from the Associated Press. The Golden Hawks score 64 points per game and give up 43, shooting 48% from the floor, with 31 rebounds, 13 assists, nine steals and 10 turnovers. Harmsen leads the Hawks in points and boards with 20 and eight respectively. Pennington is the team leader with four assists.

Northeast Goose Lake is 16-8 overall, they finished 12-7, third in the River Valley North Division. They won their district title game over Camanche on Tuesday 54-41. The Rebels score 53 points per game and give up 45, shooting 41% from the floor, with 29 rebounds, 13 assists, eight steals and 11 turnovers per game. Cade Hughes and Carter Pataska each score 13 points per game. This week, Golden Hawk seniors Pennington and Will Cavanagh and Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert talked about the keys to success Saturday.

Cavanagh and Pennington talked about the stakes, “We haven’t really been in a game like this in a very long time. This (tonight’s atmosphere) is kind of what it’s going to be, but, I mean substate, it’s go to state or go home. So we’re going to have to bring it. We know a lot of people are going to be there Saturday, but if you’re sitting at home, got nothing to do Saturday night, come down to Muscatine it’s going to be a great atmosphere!”

Lambert shared his focal points, “It’s going to come down to those little things. Who is going to make the championship plays like we did tonight (against West Burlington). We have to stay patient on the offensive and bring great effort on defense. We know what they bring and we’re going to have our hands full.”

These two teams met on December 21st in Goose Lake with the Golden Hawks taking a 60-55 overtime victory. Harmsen had 28 in that win and Cavanagh 19. Hughes and Pataska each scored 16 for the Rebels. The winner of Saturday’s contest advances to the 2A State Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines beginning March 7th. Northeast hasn’t been Des Moines since 2007, Mid-Prairie 2010. You can hear all of the action live from Muscatine High School Saturday night on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30 and tip-off at 7p.m.