The 2024 boys soccer season came to an end Wednesday in Iowa City for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks. The Hawks were beaten in the Class 1A Substate Final 2-0 by No. 2 Iowa City Regina. The Regals made Mid-Prairie play catch-up in the match, scoring in the first eight minutes to go up 1-0. The contest would continue with that score through the rest of the first half and most of the second. The Golden Hawks tried to push up to find an equalizer in the final 20 minutes and Regina made Mid-Prairie pay, adding an important insurance goal to double their lead, and reach the final score. After the match, Mid-Prairie head coach Wyatt Cady talked about what he saw from the sideline, the accomplishments of this year’s team and his standouts from the match.

Cady said, “(On the first Regina goal), we all thought the kid was offsides. Our defense shut down on the play a little bit. Ten minutes later in the half we play a ball to Peyton Fox. He thought the goalie came and made contact with him. The ball squirted over and Hugo (Banuelos) put it in the back of the net. We were all fired up and the refs came back and said ‘nope, no goal, you never touched the ball, you hit the goalie, that’s a foul on you’. Our view and their view didn’t agree. Emotionally our energy dropped at that point. Second half, came out and you could see that they’re a club team. You could see the experience, all of their first touches were great, their dropping was good, their communication was happening. The other night against Hillcrest, we were winning the 50/50s, and everybody looked like they were having a great game, but tonight, when they keep winning the ball in the air then we aren’t possessing. We made our runs, we had chances, but they definitely had a lot more. We had Joe Hall in goal so anything was possible. This kid, (Hall) can do it all! He was making the saves. He was punting the ball past the circle in the air. He was commanding the defense. He’s a great player. Beau Flynn played his heart out tonight. You could tell senior season meant something to him. He’s always been an energy guy. The guys on this team definitely think of him as a captain. We knew we could be great this year. (The seniors) have been huge to the program. They put the work in every single day. Everything you need to have a successful program, the seniors do. They have actually instilled that in the younger kids too.”

Joe Hall was a highlight reel in goal for the Hawks, making a total of 13 saves, each more impressive than the last. Regina won total shots on goal 13-0 and corners 3-1. With the win, Regina advances to the State tournament with a 15-3 record. The Hawks end their season at 10-8. Mid-Prairie says goodbye to 11 seniors including Drake Price, Tucker Miller, Joe Hall, Daniel Rodgers, Beau Flynn, Hugo Banuelos, Sawyer Hough, Dylan Henry, Drew Schlabaugh, Anthony Culbertson and Jackson Miller.