District Football honors have been announced for Class 2A District 5, and several Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks are taking home hardware.
In voting for district awards, each position on the field has one player selected from the district as it’s Most Valuable Player. Mid-Prairie’s Levi Duwa was selected as the district’s Most Valuable Defensive Lineman. Duwa, a Junior, led the district with 23 tackles for loss and 13 sacks in 2015. He was also tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries on the season. On the other side of the football Duwa caught 20 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns.
Mid-Prairie running back Ricky Vargas was a first team all-district selection. The Mid-Prairie Junior finished third in the district with 911 rushing yards, best on the Golden Hawk squad, despite missing the final three and a half games of the season due to injury. Vargas’ 11 rushing touchdowns were also best for the Golden Hawks and fourth best in the district.
Golden Hawk Senior Karson Duwa was a first team all-district defensive selection at Linebacker. Duwa finished fourth for Mid-Prairie with 46.5 tackles and three tackles for loss. Duwa was tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries.
Mid-Prairie Senior Cameron Tolander was a first team all-district defensive selection at Linebacker. Tolander led the Golden Hawk defense with 116 tackles on the season, that mark also placed him fourth in the district. Tolander finished the year with two tackles for loss and a sack.
Mid-Prairie Senior Caleb Runquist was a first team all-district selection on the offensive line. Runquist was part of an offensive line that led Mid-Prairie to 2,376 rushing yards on the season, seventh most in school history, and 3,359 total yards, fourth most in the history of Mid-Prairie football.
Mid-Prairie Senior Nolan Faselt was a second team all-district selection at linebacker. Faselt was third for the Golden Hawks with 47 tackles on the season. On the offensive side of the ball, Faselt finished as Mid-Prairie’s second leading rusher with 868 yards on 172 carries and 10 touchdowns.
Mid-Prairie Senior Blake Schwartz was a second team all-district selection at wide receiver. Schwartz led Mid-Prairie with 25 catches for 514 yards and four touchdowns on the season. His 514 yards are the eighth most for a Mid-Prairie receiver in a single season in school history, his 160 yards receiving in a 20-7 win over Mediapolis was the seventh most in a single game in school history.
Mid-Prairie Senior Paul Hawbaker was an honorable mention all-district selection at defensive back. Hawbaker led Mid-Prairie, and finished second in the district with his four interceptions. He returned one of those interceptions for a touchdown. Hawbaker finished the season with 39.5 tackles, fifth on the team.
Mid-Prairie senior Ryan Cortum was an honorable mention all-district selection at quarterback. Cortum led Mid-Prairie with 1,035 yards on 59 of 122 passing for the season. Cortum finished the year with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. Cortum ends his Golden Hawk career in fourth place in school history with 23 passing touchdowns, seventh place in school history with 1,934 career passing yards, and eighth in school history with 114 career completions.
Mid-Prairie Junior offensive lineman Jared Miller was all an honorable mention all-district selection. Miller was a member of an offensive line that helped the 2015 Mid-Prairie offense place in the top ten in school history in rushing yards and total yards.
Mid-Prairie finished the season at 8-3. Their eight wins match the third most in program history. The Golden Hawks were eliminated in the second round of the class 2A playoffs by No. 1 Albia 42-0.