It’s here! The start of the 2019 high school football season is upon us as Mid-Prairie opens the campaign against the Grinnell Tigers.
The Golden Hawks were 3-6 a year ago, 3-2 in district play, collecting wins against Central Lee, Davis County and Albia. Mid-Prairie finished last season with 2,625 yards including 1,708 on the ground. The Golden Hawks will have to replace their top five leading rushers from a season ago including Justin Schwartz who led the way with 1,015 yards and 12 touchdowns on 200 carries. Through the air the Hawks return Brad Tornow for his senior season under center, after a junior campaign that saw him finish 58 of 138 for 816 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions. Tornow’s top three targets from a season ago have moved on with Jack Baker at tight end being the leading returner with 12 catches for 144 yards. Baker is the leading returner defensively, finishing second on the team last year with 42.5 tackles.
Last year the Tigers were 3-6, going 1-3 in non-district play and collecting a pair of district wins. Grinnell finished with 2,782 total yards last year, including 1,744 through the air and 31 total touchdowns. The Tigers have to replace quarterback Drew Coffman who was 128 of 239 through the air for 1,528 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 416 yards on 130 attempts with nine touchdowns. The other two leading returners in those categories, Cole McGriff in the passing game and Wyatt Hunter in the running game accounted for a total of 348 yards and five touchdowns all year. While the Tigers lost their leading receiver last year, Tanner Strand with 366 yards they do bring back Owen Coffman for his junior year. He was second with 351 yards and four scores on 22 catches. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about keys to the game. “We have to worry about ourselves and get that taken care of. We need to control the clock and keep the ball out of their hands, they are explosive offensively. I think they are a better team, but we are also a better team from a year ago so it should be a good game.”
These two teams met a year ago with Grinnell taking a 27-12 win at home. Drew Coffman was 14 of 22 for 101 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. He also rushed for 102 yards and a score. The Hawks had three turnovers in the loss with Brad Tornow going 13 of 31 through the air for 165 yards a pick and a score. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the KCII football Friday preview show at 5:45, Washington HyVee pregame show at seven and kickoff at 7:30 from Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman.