The opener is here for the Mid-Prairie boys soccer team when they host the Williamsburg Raiders in Wellman at the Wellman Rotary Soccer Fields Tuesday. The Hawks had two road scrimmages to tune-up for the regular season, taking on Solon and Benton, and last Thursday should have been their official opener at Keokuk but weather intervened. Mid-Prairie was 11-5 last year and were bounced from the 1A tournament in the substate final after starting the year 7-0 and reaching the top five in the coaches poll. They scored 61 goals and gave up just 22. Individually, the Golden Hawks have their two leading scorers back with Owen Trimpe and All-Stater Jack Pennington combining for 29 goals in 2021. The duo also had a total of 13 assists and will have to step up to replace last year’s graduated leader Ethan Trimpe’s nine. Justice Jones returns in goal after a junior season with 410 minutes on the line with 34 saves and an 81% save percentage. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Pat Cady talked about his returners and what has him most excited about this year’s team. “We have a lot of great veterans back from last year’s team. Important guys. Tucker Miller had two goals and three assists, Jack Pennington was a huge player for us last year, he had 14 goals and six assists last year as a right back. Braden Hartley is back, Gunnar Gingerich had seven goals and three assists. Owen Trimpe was our leading scorer with 15 goals and seven assists last year. Jarrett Hoffman worked well with Ethan Trimpe last year and we’re going to look to him on defense. Beau Flynn will also be a starting defensive back for us. Justice Jones didn’t come on and start playing goalkeeper for us until the end of the year. Tremendous talent there. He made a lot of saves that I’m not sure others would have been able to make.”

Williamsburg is 3-0 on the year young season with wins over South Tama, Wapello and Benton by a combined 11-3 score. The Raiders are on a quick turnaround with their 2-1 win over the Bobcats coming last night. They finished 6-10 a season ago and return their two leading scorers from last season with Braeden Brown and Oliver Mize combining for 19 goals. Caleb Mohr is back after a season with a team best five assists. In goal Kadince Kuesel returns after a 2021 with 647 minutes, 21 saves and an 85% save percentage. A year ago the Raiders scored 28 goals and gave up 42. Williamsburg beat the Hawks last season 2-1 and have won back-to-back games against Mid-Prairie. The Hawks hold a 4-3 edge in the all-time series. Action starts with varsity first tonight at 5p.m. in Wellman.