Photo Courtesy of Eric Henry

In a winner-take-all, Senior Night Friday contest, Week 8 at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman, it was the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team that scored the important 42-22 win over visiting Albia. Each team came in with a chance to host a first round playoff game next week, if they won Friday. The Golden Hawk seniors talked in practice this week about how Albia could be their final home game, and that was motivation enough to know it wouldn’t be. The Hawks set the tone with their first offensive play, a reprisal of Sunday’s San Francisco 49ers trick play, which ends with a flea flicker back to quarterback Brady Weber who goes top shelf to Kaden Kos 80 yards for a 6-0 lead. Late in the first, Hudson Ehrenfelt capped a nine play 60 yard drive with a one yard plunge on fourth and goal to make it 12-0. Next possession, Ehrenfelt was on a receiving end of a 53-yard Weber screen pass to increase the lead to 18-0, Weber stayed hot next drive, with a nine yard fade to Dylan Henry for his third scoring throw of the night to make it 24-0. Albia went tight formation and plowed 61 yards on 16 plays, seven of them quarterback sneaks to get on the board before half with a Connor Fisher three yard touchdown to make it 24-8 at half.

Out of intermission, Lukin Rediger got the Hawks first takeaway of the day, a pick returned to the Blue Demon 10 and four plays later, Weber found a cutting Kos for his fourth touchdown pass to put the Hawks up 30-8. Next possession, Weber make it five scoring throws with a 29-yarder to Grady Miller, his first touchdown grab of the year, to finish a 61 yard march on four plays to put Mid-Prairie in front 36-8. Landon Sullivan’s second interception of the year set up Mid-Prairie’s final touchdown, Weber’s school record tying sixth through the air on the night, the second scoring connection of the evening to Henry, this one 29 yards, made it 42-8 late. The Blue Demons would finish a pair of touchdown drives late against Golden Hawk reserves. After the contest, Mid-Prairie quarterback Brady Weber talked about his night under center, the school record, the team win and seniors. Weber said, “They were in zone a lot, so that helped us get the ball out to our playmakers quick. Coming out of the gate with the 49ers play, that really set the tone. Guys were doing a good job of getting open all night. The line had great protection. (On the trick play) I just thought ‘I hope I don’t miss him’. I was hoping I didn’t overthrow him. I saw he was open. I was just hoping to connect. The defense played great. DBs had two picks. When the second team got in, they were going hard. We had guys step up and make a lot of big tackles and tackles for loss tonight. (My favorite touchdown pass) was the first one to Kaden (Kos). I didn’t know (it was a school record). It’s definitely cool. I’m just glad we got the win though. We had a great fan turnout. The student section was loud. It’s always good to play in front of this crowd. Four years now (the seniors) have been grinding. There’s no better way to reward them than to come out and get a statement win on Senior Night and a home playoff game next week!”

Unofficially, Mid-Prairie outgained Albia 427 to 219 for the game including 372-89 through the first three quarters, and 198 to 43 through the air. Weber tied Travis Kern’s 20-year-old school record set against Highland-Lone Tree with six touchdown passes. He finished 11 of 16 for 198 yards. Henry and Kos each had two touchdown grabs, Ehrenfelt and Miller one each. Ehrenfelt also rushed for a score. He put up 212 all-purpose yards The Mid-Prairie defense had nine tackles for loss with Sullivan and Rediger’s interceptions. In a pregame ceremony, Mid-Prairie honored 12 seniors, Landon Sullivan, Case Whetstine, Landon Fox, Jack Greiner, Dylan Henry, Kurt Schneider, Lukin Rediger, Parker Ehrenfelt, Jarron Thomas, Jackson Miller, Beau Flynn and Grady Miller. With the win, the Golden Hawks are .500 on the year at 4-4, runners-up in District 5 at 4-1 and clinch a home playoff game Friday. Albia is 4-4, 2-3 in 2A District 5. Both teams will find out their official playoff fates later today when the state releases their pairings.