The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk football team faced their first live opponent in the 2018 season, hosting Iowa City Regina in a controlled scrimmage Friday night at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman as part of the Gator Bowl and Meet the Players night.

The action started with seven on seven and lineman drills in a controlled practice atmosphere. From there the two teams worked on special teams and then went to a full scrimmage format with each varsity offense possessing the ball for three series against the other team’s defense. The Hawks found the end zone twice in the scrimmage, the Regals just once. Mid-Prairie’s fireworks came early, on the second play from scrimmage Grant Boyse ripped off a 73 yard touchdown run up the middle. The Regals scored their lone touchdown on their second series with an 18 yard screen pass. The Hawks found pay dirt again on their last possession when Jaron Utzinger crashed in from one yard out. Unofficial totals for the night saw Mid-Prairie out gained Regina 189-162 including 154-57 on the ground. Boyse led the Golden Hawk ground attack with two carries for 75 yards and a touchdown, Jaron Utzinger had six carries for 41 yards and a score. Brad Tornow was two of six through the air for nine yards. Defensively, Dominick Pickard had an interception. After the event, Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about he liked from his guys. “I thought we looked sharp offensively. In those drills it’s all about timing and making your reads. We had a couple of drops but were in the right spot. We had guys open and Brad (Tornow) made some nice throws. Defensively we started a little slow, their quarterback had a lot to do with that.

The Golden Hawks open the season Friday when they travel to Grinnell. You can hear all of the action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 KCII, beginning with the Friday Football Preview Show at 6p.m., the Washington HyVee preview show at seven and kickoff at 7:30.