WELLMAN

A familiar playoff opponent, the Northeast Rebels, awaited Mid-Prairie in the first round postseason play. 

For the third straight year the Golden Hawks and the Rebels met each other in the playoffs and it ended up being the third straight year the Hawks put an end to Northeast’s season. 

Touting a well-balanced offensive attack and a stout defense, Mid-Prairie grabbed the lead early and never let it go, trouncing the Rebels, 49-18, on Oct. 20. 

“We want to be balanced. We want to be able to attack you through the air and attack you on the ground and get some play action in there and some run pass options,” Mid-Prairie coach Darren Lambert said. “We clicked on all cylinders tonight. Overall, very pleased with how we played tonight.”  

This game was delayed from its initial start time due to issues with Northeast’s bus, but once the game started it became apparent their bus would have little time to rest before its next departure. 

On the second play of the game Mid-Prairie junior Brady Weber tossed a 58-yard touchdown to senior Dylan Henry. A big time playmaker, Henry ended the game with a team leading 99 receiving yards on four receptions. 

This lightning quick score set the tone for the night, a night where the Golden Hawks played with confidence.     

“We had a great week of practice and guys were playing with confidence,” Lambert said about his team. “There's a couple of times Brady comes over and tells me the play he wants. There's a couple of times linemen are coming off and telling me what to run. It's one of those things that when guys are playing with confidence, you want to listen to them. They're the ones out there seeing it. Just listening to those guys and having fun out there and that's what those guys were doing.

Not only was the air attack working for the Hawks, but the ground attack proved to be mightily potent as well. 

On Mid-Prairie’s next offensive possession sophomore Hudson Ehrenfelt was a workhorse, carrying the ball five times for 62 total yards. His last run, a five yard rush, ended in the endzone. 

Mid-Priairie capped off its highest scoring quarter of the night with another TD, a five yard pass caught by junior Cobi Hershberger, and entered the second frame with a 21-0 lead. 

“[Northeast] has a great defense, but I think our coaches did a great job of calling great plays,” Mid-Prairie quarterback Brady Weber said. “Our offensive line did a great job protecting tonight. [Northeast’s] D-line is pretty good. They had a big kid go out early who's a great player, but our D-line did a great job. 

The Rebels were able to respond in the second quarter with a TD, but failed on the two-point attempt. 

Weber scored the next TD, but this time he used his legs. Running over Northeast defenders, Weber scored a 12-yard rushing TD. He followed this up by tossing for another score, a four-yard TD caught by Ehrenfelt. 

Scoring two TDs, one rushing and one receiving, Ehrenfelt led the Hawks in rushing yards (179) on 25 carries. On the year he has 1,178 rushing yards, the 12th most in school history. 

“We told the guys, the reason we had success tonight is because we had a great week of practice and it's one of those things that people don't see,” Lambert said. “We tell them, you got to win Monday through Thursday to take care of business on Friday. And it was a great week of preparation.”

Getting in on the scoring party, sophomore Kaden Kos caught a 35-yard TD in the third frame. This was one of two passes Kos caught in this game, ending the night with 38 receiving yards. 

Also prevalent on defense, Kos had a team high eight total tackles, 2.5 being tackles for loss. This year Kos has 105 tackles, tied for 11th most in school history.  

Weber’s fifth TD throw of the night went to Hershberger. Hershberger accounted for two catches in this playoff game and both of them were TD catches. 

In his first playoff start, Weber went 11 for 16 through the air, throwing for 162 yards and five TDs. On the ground he rushed for 43 yards on four carries with one going for a TD. 

Similar to last week Weber was responsible for six TDs, regardless of whether he used his arms for legs. He is the only Golden Hawk in the school's history to accomplish this feat twice. 

The Rebels scored again in the fourth frame but the running clock made the final quarter go by in the blink of an eye. The game ended and Mid-Prairie collected a 31 point playoff victory. 

While Mid-Prairie will celebrate this win, they realize they have to enter next week’s contest with a similar mindset they approached this first round game with. 

“This one, we're going to celebrate it for sure,” Weber said after the playoff win. “Great energy booster, but after tonight we kind of got to flush it, do our homework and whoever we play next, we got to be ready to go because we know they will be, too.”

“To have a result like this after a great week of preparation, just brings it home to those guys that we got to bring it back next week and do the same thing,” Lambert said of the preparation plan for next week. “We're excited, celebrate it tonight, but then get ready to go tomorrow. 

In the second round of the playoffs Mid-Prairie (5-4) will hit the road to challenge the PCM Mustangs (7-2) on Oct. 27. These two teams have met twice before, once in 2012 and again in 2015, and the Golden Hawks won both matchups. 

GAME SUMMARY

MID-PRAIRIE 49, NORTHEAST 18

M-P   21    12     16    0  --  49

NE     0      6       6     6  --  18

M-P: Brady Weber TD pass to Dylan Henry (kick no good)

M-P: Hudson Ehrenfelt TD rush (Weber 2-point rush)

M-P: Weber TD pass to Cobi Hershberger (kick successful)

NE: Gavin Kramer TD pass to Michael Frame (2-point failed)

M-P: Weber TD rush (kick no good)

M-P: Weber TD pass to Ehrenfelt (kick no good)

M-P: Weber TD pass to Kaden Kos (Henry 2-point catch)

NE: Kramer TD pass to Chase Lee (2-point failed)

M-P: Weber TD pass to Hershberger (Landry Gingerich 2-point rush)

NE: Kramer TD rush (2-point failed)