WELLMAN

Returning to Dwight G. Sattler Field for their penultimate home game of the regular season, the Golden Hawks welcomed the Mediapolis Bulldogs for a high stakes contest between two district unbeaten teams. 

“We put a lot on this. This is a big game,” Mid-Prairie coach Daren Lambert said about the importance of the matchup against Mediapolis. “Both teams are undefeated in the district, and we knew what it meant. You knew that there’s a district title on the line.” 

Lacking a counter punch on offense, Mid-Prairie suffered its first loss in district play as Mediapolis claimed victory over the Golden Hawks, 38-7, on Sept. 29.

With this win Mediapolis (4-2) secured sole possession of first place in Class 2A District 5 and improved its unblemished district record to 3-0. 

The Bulldogs took control of this contest early, scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the game. Once Mediapolis got the ball back, after forcing Mid-Prairie to punt, they scored again to take a first quarter 14-0 lead. 

Eventually the Bulldogs led by 24 at halftime and shut out the Golden Hawks for the remainder of the game while scoring another TD in the final quarter. 

“Definitely didn’t go the way we wanted it to. We knew they’re going to be a good physical team. They got up on us early.” coach Lambert said. “We were a few plays away from getting back in it. Some dropped balls, penalties, we took a step forward and took a step back and didn’t help ourselves out.” 

Mid-Prairie ended the game committing two costly turnovers, a fumble in the second frame by junior Brady Weber and an interception in the third quarter by senior Dylan Henry.

The fumble by Weber was caused by a strip sack and Mediapolis scored a TD on the next play. Henry’s interception, who was in as QB for Weber who was shaken up after a running play, occurred near the endzone, halting a promising drive. 

Despite the injury scare Weber did return to the game, only missing one series on offense. Weber ended the night completing 11 passes on 24 attempts for 135 yards and a TD.  He also rushed for 25 yards on 10 carries. 

“I thought Brady did a great job of leading,” coach Lambert said. “He took a lot of hits and I thought he stepped up and made some good throws. We knew [Mediapolis] were going to bring pressure, kind of put them on an island at times where we were trying to get numbers on certain sides of the field.”

Scoring Mid-Prairie’s only TD of the game was sophomore Kaden Kos. His 38-yard receiving TD occurred in the second quarter. This is his second TD of the season. 

Leading the Hawks on the ground and the air was sophomore Hudson Ehrenfelt. 

He ended the night leading Mid-Prairie in receiving yards (40) on three catches and rushing yards (128) on 24 carries. This is the third straight game Ehrenfelt has rushed for 100 yards or more. 

After such a tough physical game coach Lambert knows getting everyone healthy is a high priority. 

“We got to get healthy,” coach Lambert said. “We got a lot of guys banged up. That’s the biggest thing right now is to get healthy, and we just got to get better in all facets of the game.”

Up next Mid-Prairie (2-4) will be hitting the road to challenge Central Lee (3-3) on Oct. 6. 

GAME SUMMARY

Mid-Prairie 7, Mediapolis 38 

M-P  0     7     0    0  --  7

MD  14   17    0    7 --   38