Photo Courtesy of Eric Henry
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team saw their 2023 season come to a close Friday night in Monroe, falling to the No. 10 Prairie City Monroe Mustangs in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs, 36-0. Defenses controlled the action early with the game scoreless after the first frame. PCM got on the board with a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, led by their state leaders. Top rusher in 2A Adrien Robbins raced 50 yards to get the scoring started and on the next Mustang possession, quarterback Gavin VanGorp connected with 2A’s touchdown catch leader Griffin Olson on a 66-yard strike to put PCM up 14-0 at the break.
The Hawks tried to climb back out of half, putting together a 15 play, 55 yard drive that ended on downs just outside the red zone. From there, the Mustangs asserted control the rest of the way. Three straight ‘Stang touchdown drives put the game on ice. VanGorp connected with Olson for their second score, this one 39 yards and then called his own number with touchdown runs of 25 and two yards to cap the scoring. Following the contest, Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert talked about what he saw as the keys to the outcome and highlighted his seniors contributions to the program. Lambert said, “We moved the ball through the run game, we just weren’t able to capitalize like we have the last couple of weeks. We traded punches with them and hung around. At the end of the day, they kept putting points up and we couldn’t finish drives so it put us in a tough spot. It got us off schedule, out of what we wanted to do as an offense. Through that first quarter I was very pleased with how our guys played. All games, no matter the score, come down to five or six plays. How you end up on those plays can determine what that game looks like. Unfortunately, they got two big plays on us. We felt like we were very close on a lot of plays. Credit goes to them. They’re big and they’re physical. Our guys kept fighting. I’m very proud of our guys for not just tonight, but for the entire season. We were one of the final 16, so we’ve got a lot to be proud of. On a night like tonight, you always think about the seniors and the part that they played. I appreciate all of the time effort and energy that they put in this entire season. From where we started at 0-3, and then to finish as a state qualifier in the playoffs, makes me proud of everything they have done.”
Unofficially, the Hawks were outgained 378-289 in total yards in the loss. VanGorp accounted for 224 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. Robbins finished with 154 total yards and a score. Golden Hawk sophomore Hudson Ehrenfelt was a workhorse with 40 touches for 149 all-purpose yards. Mid-Prairie quarterback Brady Weber was eight of 13 passing for 44 yards and a pick. Cobi Hershberger led the Golden Hawk defense with nine tackles. The loss ends the Hawk’s season at 5-5. The Mustangs are 8-2 and advance to Friday’s 2A quarterfinals. The Golden Hawks say goodbye to 12 seniors including Landon Sullivan, Landon Fox, Dylan Henry, Lukin Rediger, Jarron Thomas, Case Whetstine, Jack Griener, Kurt Schneider, Parker Ehrenfelt, Jackson Miller, Grady Miller and Beau Flynn.