Opening night was wet, but it was a success for the Mid-Prairie boys soccer team as they defended their home field with a 3-1 win over the visiting Williamsburg Raiders. The Golden Hawk offense was on track early, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute when Owen Trimpe found the back of the net for the first of his two goals. He would double the Golden Hawk advantage with his second goal in the 18th minute on a Daniel Rodgers assist. Trimpe talked after the match about his two strikes. “We wanted to see our form, our shape, in this first match. We’re trying to get better with that this year. That’s what we thought was the problem last year. Working more of the middle third and possessing the ball there instead of our final (third) or our defense. I was just kind of waiting for Jack (Pennington) to run down and do his thing, beat them and cross it in. I was going to be clean up every single time and it worked both times. Our first half we came out right off the bat just immediately on them. Stopping all of their passes, playing real synergized back and forth and our first touches were great.”

In the 38th minute it was Golden Hawk Grady Gingerich’s turn to score for Mid-Prairie, making it 3-0 Hawks in the waning moments of the half. Williamsburg got on the board with a 48th minute goal from Tytan Guerrero, but would get no closer than the 3-1 score. With the win, Mid-Prairie starts the year 1-0 and gets ready for Columbus in Wellman Thursday. The Raiders are now 3-1.