Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team came up short on the road Friday against Iowa City Regina 51-19. In a game heard on KCII, it was a fast start for the Regals on both sides of the ball. Regina marched 72 yards on five plays to open the game with an 11 yard Will Aitchison touchdown run to take a lead they wouldn’t give up the rest of the night. After a 13 play drive for Mid-Prairie that covered 46 yards, but came up empty on the scoreboard, the Regals went 83 yards on a 11 plays, finishing with a Jackson Naeve 2 yard TD to go up 14-0. After punts from both sides, Regina bled the clock down and got a 26 yard field goal from Emiliano Herrera-Sinnwell to take a 17-0 lead into half.
Out of the locker room, both teams traded punts through the first three possessions before the Regals found pay dirt again. Naeve finished a 44 yard drive with a four yard touchdown to make it 23-0. The Hawks got on the board for the first time this season, the next chance with the ball. Keyed by a leaping Cobi Hershberger catch at the one, quarterback Brady Weber drove across the chalk for the first Mid-Prairie points of the year to make it 23-7. From there the offenses heated up on both sides. Quarterback Gentry Dumont went up top to Naeve for a six yard touchdown to put the Regals back on top 30-7. The Hawk’s answer was a Dylan Henry 19 yard touchdown catch on fourth down to make it 30-13. Dumont connected with Naeve twice more on touchdowns. Savion Miller had a late rushing touchdown for the Regals and on the final play of the game, the Golden Hawks had more fireworks when Gentry Bontrager came in under center and hit Blake Swart for a 20 yard score on the final play. After the contest, head coach Daren Lambert joined the KCII locker room show to talk about what he saw, and what the Hawks can build on. “Similar to the first half of our last game, the defense gave up a couple of early scores and offensively we weren’t able to finish out a drive. After that, the defense found a way to get some stops and put us in position to be in the game. Senior leadership was important. It’s their time to shine. Jarron (Thomas) did a great job getting pressure. Dylan (Henry) was hanging out over the middle. He’s conducting the back end of the defense. You could see his confidence growing, and he was coming up and laying some shots. On our first touchdown drive, Cobi (Hershberger) had to go up and fight for that ball. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep getting better. It could have been very easy at halftime with things not going our way to hang our heads. We hadn’t scored. That was six straight quarters without scoring. Our guys had some success and they took steps forward on offense tonight. Things are starting to click on that side of the ball. We have a quarterback who’s only making his second varsity start and he’s relentless at getting better. He’s getting better each week. Our receivers did a great job of making plays with the ball in their hands after the catch. (Hudson Ehrenfelt) is a hungry player. He plays with an edge and runs with an edge. He runs angry. He’s a guy we’re going to lean on. We have to find ways to get the ball in his hands.”
Unofficially, Mid-Prairie was outgained on the night 570-266 including 317-79 through the air. Dumont was 17 of 25 en route to four touchdowns on those 317 yards. Aitchison had 18 touches for 203 yards and a score, Naeve had 167 all purpose yards and five touchdowns. Weber finished seven of 16 through the air for 79 yards a touchdown and a pick. Henry, Weber and Swart all had touchdowns. Hudson Ehrenfelt had 17 touches for 71 yards. With the win, Regina is 2-0, on their way to Mediapolis next week. Mid-Prairie falls to 0-2 with a trip to Sigourney-Keota Friday.