Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)

Monday, the third seed Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys soccer team scored a 2-1 playoff win over second seeded Hillcrest Academy in an electric environment in Kalona. The Hawks struck first, getting a goal in the first 20 minutes of the match from Tucker Miller, his fifth of the year, on a Peyton Fox assist, to put Mid-Prairie up 1-0. Just before half, the Ravens drew even on a Mason Swartzendruber goal, his fifth of the year, on a Micah Gerber assist, to send the match to break tied at one. Less than 10 minutes after intermission, the Hawks would take the lead for good on a highlight reel goal from Sawyer Hough, his first of the season, with the assist for Miller, giving Mid-Prairie the 2-1 advantage. The Golden Hawk defense would make that stand up over the final 25 minutes as the Ravens pushed forward trying to again find the equalizer to no avail. After the match, the two Golden Hawk senior goal scorers Miller and Hough joined KCII sports to talk about the win.

Hough said, “It was (Peyton) Fox. He dribbled down the sideline and passed it in. I took one bounce and no one was coming at me so I kind of just lifted my leg behind me and I snuck it in the net. I didn’t really see it go in, I fell, I looked behind me and I saw it in the net. It was just excitement and happiness. It was awesome. We get to keep going on. A chance to go to State. It’s amazing. I just get to keep playing soccer with this team.”

Miller added, “Peyton (Fox) just gave me a really good pass and I took a couple of touches and there was a shot right there. I knew if I could hit it hard enough, worst-case scenario, it was just bouncing right back to me and I would put it in then. He was able to get a hand on it but he couldn’t save it. It felt great. It was really nice to get this win over Hillcrest. They were favored to win but it feels good to get the upset. Feels great, we’re all just a tight family.”

Mid-Prairie had nine total shots to seven for Hillcrest with each team putting six shots on goal and finishing with one corner kick. Joe Hall had six saves in goal in the win for Mid-Prairie, Kyle Neuschwander had four for the Ravens. Hillcrest ends their season at 10-4 as Southeast Iowa Superconference regular season champions, and says goodbye to senior Mason Swartzendruber. Mid-Prairie improves to 10-7 and draws a rematch with Iowa City Regina with a bid to the 1A State Tournament on the line. The Regals beat the Hawks 3-1 earlier this season. Action starts Wednesday at 5p.m. at Iowa City Regina High School.