Golden Hawks ready to rumble on offense

GRINNELL

The task was done.

Mid-Prairie senior quarterback Brooks Weber stood on the sidelines last Friday night (Aug. 21) at Grinnell High School Stadium with senior teammates Carson Humphrey and Nolan Jergens at the end of a day that included the taking of a team photo, a bus ride of over an hour and a scrimmage that showed just how good the Golden Hawks’ passing game could be this season.

The trio of seniors chatted.

They laughed.

They encouraged the younger guys as JV players took over.

And they celebrated.

Together, a year ago, they helped Mid-Prairie’s offense launch into one of the best football seasons in school history. The Golden Hawks won nine games. They produced the highest-scoring offense in Iowa 2A. They were the second-highest scoring team in Mid-Prairie history.

And they almost reached the UNI-Dome for a 2A playoff semifinal. Almost. And that’s the motivation.

“Oh, yeah,” Jergens said, “that’s the big goal.”

The Golden Hawks, who won 16 games over the past two seasons and captured consecutive district championships, lost two big guys from those teams to graduation: All-State running back Hudson Ehrenfelt, one of the top rushers in the state, and linebacker-receiver Kaden Kos, a 2026 Shrine Bowl selectee. That’s what the scouting report will say.

And the year before that, the Golden Hawks lost quarterback Brady Weber, Brooks’ older brother, to graduation. Brady played varsity for two years and passed for a school-record 3,322 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Brooks is chasing him down this year after smashing the single-season school record for passing TDs with 30 last year. The career school record is 33, which Brooks edged closer to with two TD passes to Kendrick Kos in Friday’s season-opening 35-21 win over Washington.

“Great receivers and great running backs,” Brooks said.

But look at what has emerged.

Humphrey, who made it to the 2026 state track championship meet in the 800-meter sprint medley and the shuttle hurdle, was just two TD catches short of a school record last year. Jergens, who made it to state in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, was three TD catches off the school record.

Then, add in Kendrick Kos, another state track qualifier, at receiver.

And add in two-time state sprint finalist Ryan Henry.

It’ll be a track meet. Every game.

“Last year, we had a bunch of great players, like Kaden, Hudson,” Brooks Weber said. “The rest of our wide receivers, they have experience, they’re good, they’re talented, and our coaching staff’s doing good. They’re putting in the work, watching film, prepping us through practice and stuff.”

Watch closely.

This may not be as much a quarterback reading his receivers as the receivers actually reading the quarterback. And the defensive coverages.

And they’ve been doing it all summer … when Brooks wasn’t playing baseball.

“I think the offseason helped us,” Jergens said. “All three of the receivers, Kendrick, Carson and me, we all worked with Brooks during the offseason to get our routes go better, our plays better, just to feel better with him so he knows we’re there for him whenever he needs.

“I think, us in track, helps us build a corp with us three.”

“They’ve come a long way in adjusting their route to what they’re seeing coverage wise,” Lambert said, “whether that’s a guy who’s off, a guy who’s passing you off to another zone, or a guy jamming you and adjusting.”

A hint came in just the second game of the season last year. Weber passed for 357 yards, missing a school record by one yard (oh, let’s check the video again), and threw for 6 touchdowns, tying a school record held by two others, including Brady Weber.

Brooks also had a 306-yard passing game against West Liberty, the fourth-best game in Mid-Prairie history, and 238 yards against Van Meter.

But this year is different. Year two of varsity. The game is slowing down at the same time that it is actually speeding up.

“Just at practice, you can see the game is slowing down, the reads, the different things, the command and the trust that he has in the guys he’s throwing to, and the trust they have in him,” Lambert said.

All of it leads toward the Dome.

“We’re all just fired up and thinking based off last season how it didn’t end well,” Jergens said. “It ended up good in district play, but not in the playoffs. I think we’re just going to build off that.”

This should be fun.

And fast.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul