The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk wrestling team is on the mat Thursday night for the second time this week with an enormous opportunity in front of them.

Tonight, Mid-Prairie hosts a River Valley Conference triangular with West Branch and West Liberty, two teams that have dominated the conference historically. The Golden Hawks enter tonight’s action looking to shake up tradition, and grab the inside track to their first conference title in school history. Mid-Prairie enters tonight with an 8-1 overall record, the Golden Hawks are a perfect 6-0 in conference action. Last time out Mid-Prairie swept Tipton and Iowa City Regina in Iowa City on Monday night. Mid-Prairie enters tonight’s action with four wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in class 2A in the latest poll from thepredicament.com. Duncan McCain is rated seventh in the state at 120lbs, Cameron Tolander is seventh at 182lbs, Visouth Peterschmidt is eighth at 195lbs and Levi Duwa is eighth at 220lbs.

The West Branch Bears enter tonight’s event with an overall record of 3-5, West Branch is 2-3 in the River Valley Conference. In their last dual action West Branch dropped both ends of a triangular December 17th, falling to Monticello 48-27 and North Fayette Valley 63-12. The Bears do not currently have any ranked wrestlers in their lineup.

The West Liberty Comets enter tonight’s meet with an overall record of 9-2, West Liberty is 4-1 in the River Valley Conference. In their last action at the Doug Phillip Duals tournament West Liberty posted wins over Cedar Rapids Xavier, Anamosa and Marion while falling to No. 4 Mediapolis by a single point, 31-30. The Comets have one ranked wrestler in their lineup. Bryce Esmoil is currently third in class 2A at 195lbs. Action begins tonight at Tim Grady Gymnasium at 6PM.