In a clash of familiar foes in Wellman Thursday, it was the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys soccer team that ended the season for Hillcrest Academy in the opening round of the Class 1A postseason 1-0. The two teams played the first 40 minutes to a scoreless stalemate. After both sides regrouped at the break, Mid-Prairie put a shot in goal that was called back on goalie obstruction in the 44th minute. The Golden Hawks would get the goal they were looking for in the 59th minute when Owen Trimpe tallied on a Jack Pennington assist, beating the Ravens and goalkeeper Aiden Krabill, who deflected the shot, but it still got to the back of the net. Following the match, Trimpe talked about the goal, “Tonight it was a lot of trying to work through the defense with 1-2s, me, Jack (Pennington), Gunnar (Gingerich) and Tucker (Miller), we were all on the same page moving around. Someone played me a great ball through and I had a perfect touch with my right. I told myself ‘just don’t sky it’ and put it right between the goalie’s legs. It’s amazing! In a 0-0 game, that one goal to put you ahead feels great. It’s like a safety blanket.”

That was all either side was able to put on the scoreboard in the hard fought contest. The Golden Hawks ended with 15 shots on goal, to one for Hillcrest. Justice Jones turned in a clean sheet in the victory. He and defenseman Beau Flynn spoke after the match about the keys to the shut out. “Communication was important. Don’t let them get any balls over the top or serve anything into the box and I think we did that well. They only  had one person up so we needed to make sure that we always had numbers. There was pressure. When it’s 0-0 that’s kind of a tough game to play. On the defensive end though we still felt pretty comfortable. They have some good forwards that can run and we knew that so we were trying to keep them out of that half of the field and we did that well.”

With the win, Mid-Prairie improves to 11-3 on the year and will face No. 13 West Liberty in the substate semifinal round of the Class 1A tournament at the Muscatine Soccer Complex on Monday. Hillcrest Academy ends their season with a 6-9 overall record and will say goodbye to six seniors, Gabe Bruns, Jorge Canchola, Collin Miller, Titus Neuschwander, Oscar Florex-Calix and Aiden Krabill.