Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie CSD School District
The No. 9 in Class 2A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team controlled action Friday, rolling to a 35-7 win in the first round of the playoffs over visiting Union, LaPorte City at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman. The Knights started with the ball and went 71 yards on nine plays to take a 7-0 lead when Andrew Sadler went straight ahead, into the end zone from three yards out. Mid-Prairie scored 35 unanswered from there. Hudson Ehrenfelt got the Hawks even on Mid-Prairie’s second possession an eight play 50-yard push that ended with his six yard touchdown run. They took the lead for good late in the second. Cash Brown had a 32-yard punt return to set Mid-Prairie up in the Union red zone and the next play, Brady Weber connected with Ace Peck for six from 16 yards out and it was 14-7 Golden Hawks at the break.
Second possession after half, Mid-Prairie doubled their lead on Ehrenfelt’s second running score, a two-yarder, finishing an eight play 51 yard march to go up 21-7. The Knights had a 14-play drive stall with no points before the Golden Hawks scored a wild touchdown with Weber, 20 yards downfield on a quarterback draw, fumbling, only to see teammate Blake Swart fly to the rescue, scoop it up, and race the final 50 yards for six, making it 28-7. The Mid-Prairie magic continued on the next drive, following Gentry Bontrager’s first interception of the year, The Hawks drove 26 yards on seven plays and finished it with a hook and ladder special, Weber to Peck to lineman Landon Kos who stretched for six with a drive to put Mid-Prairie on top 35-7. Brown swiped an interception from Sadler late to seal the deal. Golden Hawk of the Game Landon Kos joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about play on both sides of the ball, his first career touchdown and what it meant to get the playoff win.
Kos said, “Ace (Peck) had the perfect flip to me and then I focused on that end zone. I know I only have one shot to do it so I knew I had to execute that play and that’s why I dove. (Defensively) we had to make sure we were containing their running back, linebackers were getting there. We were getting hyped after every play. The physicality this defense brings is next level. (Union) had a lot of stunts and different blitzes. We were able to figure those out. We got our passing game going. Ace (Peck) and Blake (Swart) both had amazing catches. This is probably the most hyped I’ve seen our student section and our fans are always loud. This feels amazing, but the job’s not done. We have two more to go to get to that dome!”
Unofficially, the Golden Hawks won total yards 287-197, and the turnover battle 2-0. Ehrenfelt had 139 all-purpose yards on 27 touches with two touchdowns, both rushing. Weber was 13 of 19 throwing for 124 yards and two touchdowns, one each to Peck and Landon Kos. Swart caught six balls for 63 yards and ran in a fumble on offense. Bontrager and Brown each had interceptions on defense. Kaden Kos led with nine tackles, Tatem Telfer had seven and the Golden Hawks had four sacks. Andrew Sadler and Caden Sorenson combined on 37 touches, 141 yards and a touchdown for the Union offense. The Knights end their season at 3-6. The No. 9 Golden Hawks are 6-3 and move to the second round of the 2A playoffs Friday.