After four unfruitful trips into the red zone, the Golden Hawks would not be denied a fifth time as the clock wound down at Northeast on Friday.
Braden Hartley bulldozed his way into the end zone from eight yards out to tie the game and Cain Brown’s extra point provided the winning margin in Mid-Prairie’s 7-6 first-round win over Northeast.
In a game that saw the Rebels take advantage of a successful onside kick and a fake punt pass, there were no surprises involved in the game-tying play — a Hartley run up the middle.
“We had so much built-up physical frustration right there at the end,” Hartley said. “We really just said, ‘this is it, we're not going to get another chance. We have to give it all we’ve got.’
“That line pushed for me and when I got going, I did not stop moving my feet until I knew we were in there. It's the best feeling in the world.”
Hartley went over 150 rushing yards as Mid-Prairie took a one-point lead with 4:50 remaining in the game. He finished with 163 yards on 40 carries. The Golden Hawks rushed for a total of 256 yards behind linemen Kaden Meader, Jack Zahradnek, Jaxsen Timmerman, Parker Ehrenfelt, Jarron Thomas, Landon Kos and Quinn Callahan, fullback Lukin Rediger and tight end Grady Gingerich.
The Golden Hawks dominated time of possession in the first half. But drives of 14 and 19 plays both ended inside the Northeast 10-yard line with a turnover on downs and a blocked field goal. After the 73 and 74-yard possessions resulted in zero points for the Golden Hawks, the Rebels opened the second half with an onside kick and took advantage of the short field to score five plays later.
Although the offensive success was not reflected on the scoreboard, the yardage was valuable for field position and for the Golden Hawks’ confidence during the final push.
“We had a rough drive right before (the touchdown) and we knew that we just had to come back and keep grinding like we had been all game and we knew that it would come eventually,” said senior lineman Jack Zahradnek.
Trailing for the first time on Friday, Mid-Prairie drove the ball from its own 19-yard line to the Northeast 18. Senior quarterback Collin Miller converted third downs with his legs and his arm, finding Dylan Henry for 12 yards to the Rebel 25-yard line on third-and-9. Again the drive stalled with an incomplete pass on fourth down.
“Our kids were resilient,” Mid-Prairie coach Pete Cavanagh said. “We knew that we were moving the ball, we just had to put it all together. And I thought Collin Miller played great in the second half, just bouncing back and making some nice runs and throws that put us in position for Braden to score there.”
Miller found Cain Brown for six yards and Cobi Hershberger for 12 on the go-ahead drive. He also picked up 11 yards on the ground on third down run to move the ball across midfield.
He finished with 47 yards through the air and 80 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Defensively, the Golden Hawks allowed just six points to a team that had averaged 32 per game during the regular season.
Northeast sophomore quarterback Gavin Kramer had a 36-yard carry on the second play of the game and broke loose for 26 yards on the Rebels’ second possession. By the end of the night, those two plays accounted for nearly 60 percent of the team’s rushing yards. A Northeast passing attack that averaged over 200 yards per contest in the regular season, was held to 79 yards, which included a 14-yard completion by the punter.
“I think we made their quarterback a little uncomfortable all night and that really ruined their rhythm,” Cavanagh said. “They're kind of a rhythm offense. The defense was great. (Daren) Lambert had a great game plan and we were able to get them off the field.”
Mid-Prairie allowed a Kramer rushing touchdown early in the second half after a 17-yard carry by the quarterback moved the ball to the 1-yard line. But a stop on the 2-point conversion proved to be critical as Mid-Prairie went on to win the game by a single point.
Hartley led the defense with 5.5 tackles including a huge tackle for loss on the Rebels’ first possession. His sack of Kramer on third-and-9 pushed the Rebels back 10 yards to the 30 for an unsuccessful fourth down play.
It seemed like Northeast had all the momentum early in the third quarter with a 6-0 lead after another fourth down stop. But the Golden Hawk defense responded by pushing the Rebels back eight yards. After a 30-yard punt, Mid-Prairie had the ball again at the Northeast 40.
“That's one thing that we've been talking about all year on defense,” Hartley said.”When something happens on offense, we need to fight back and we need to make up for the mistakes we made. That was a whole year’s work right there. We put everything we had out there.”
Cobi Hershberger had five tackles and Collin Miller made four. Terry Bordenave, Grady Miller and Grady Gingerich each had 3.5.
Mid-Prairie senior Shawn Dodds punted for the first time on Friday after Northeast used its final timeout with 1:27 left.
“It was a beautiful punt by Shawn, a good spot that had them down by like the 5-yard line,” said Gingerich, who put pressure on Kramer to force an incomplete pass on the final fourth down. “We just knew we had to stay clean the whole time and keep pressure on him. Our cornerbacks did a good job locking down their receivers and they had a few incomplete passes.”
Mid-Prairie (6-3) earns a rematch with No. 1 Williamsburg (9-0), who finished first in the district with an undefeated record. The Golden Hawks will play in the round of 16 for the second straight season.
“It feels great, Gingerich said. “We're glad to see another week.”
Mid-Prairie is 3-0 this season in games decided by 10 points or less.
“It’s always fun to play a dogfight against a good team,” Zahradnek said after the win. “Blowouts are fun every now and then, but everyone who has played football knows how it feels to win a dogfight in the end.”
