Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Social Media
It might have been Homecoming Friday night at Bob Murphy Stadium in Williamsburg but for the first two and a half quarters it was the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks who hosted a party on the No. 14 Raiders home turf. In the end, the Raiders were able to come back and Mid-Prairie came up one play short in a 24-21 loss to Williamsburg in a game that had a share of the class 2A district six lead on the line.
Williamsburg opened the scoring with a 38-yard Alex Marovets field goal to end their first possession and midway through the first frame the Raiders led 3-0. That’s all they would get the rest of the first half. Mid-Prairie went on to put up 156 first half yards and back-to-back touchdown drives to build a lead on the road. The first scoring march covered 83 yards on 13 plays and featured two fourth down conversions, the first a fourth and 21 pass from Will Cavanagh to Justice Jones for 24, the second a seven yard touchdown pass from Cavanagh to Jarrett Hoffman on fourth and goal to make it 7-0 Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie would then force the Raiders into a three and out, a bad snap on the punt resulted in a fumble and the Hawks took over at the Raider 17. Mid-Prairie would go to the air again with Cavanagh to Jones for a 17 yard touchdown to make it 14-3 Golden Hawks and that’s where the score stood at the half.
Through the midway point of the third quarter Mid-Prairie maintained their double digit lead, but the Raiders began the comeback halfway through the third when Owen Douglas broke a half dozen tackles on his way to the end zone on a 49 yard run to make it 14-10 Mid-Prairie. After a Golden Hawk three and out, it was Douglas again that burned the Hawks, finishing a 10 play 84 yard drive for Williamsburg with a 13 yard run down to the one yardline followed by a dive into the end zone on the next play to give the Raiders the lead back at 17-14 early in the fourth. The Golden Hawks responded their next time with the ball, going 80 yards on 11 plays, including a fourth and eight conversion along the way. The ball found the endzone in the arms of Jack Pennington on the other of a touchdown strike from Will Cavanagh to put Mid-Prairie back in front 21-17 with seven minutes to go in the game. Both teams continued to ride the see-saw as Williamsburg got the ball back and put together the game winning touchdown drive, covering 56 yards in five plays, the last 34 on a look over the top to Jake Weber to make it 24-21. Mid-Prairie got the ball back one final time with five minutes to go, trying to move it 80 yards for a winning touchdown. The Hawks got to the Raider eight before being turned away on fourth and goal on a ball that was caught just wide of the end zone out of bounds. Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh talked about the game and his kid’s effort on this Saturday’s KCII Radio Coaches Corner “Generally, I thought we handled the first half well. We were prepared for what they were going to do. I think when your senior leaders are your best leaders and toughest kids it makes everyone raise their game a little bit. We made some great pass breakups on the night. The linebackers were great, Justice Jones in the middle, Tyler Helmuth and Braden Hartley. I thought Will had a great game at quarterback and Tyler Helmuth ran the ball hard. We also had some receivers step up. It was great to see our kids come back after we got down late and put that drive together. Not every team would be able to come together like that in those circumstances. I was so pleased with the effort, how hard they played and with the leadership they showed.”
The Hawks outgained the Raiders 387-307, including 208-85 through the air and had 19 first downs to 13 for Williamsburg. Cavanagh led Mid-Prairie with 318 all-purpose yards including 208 yards through the air on 15 of 26 passing with three touchdowns and an interception. He added 110 on the ground on 21 carries. Pennington, Jones and Hoffman each had a touchdown catch for the Hawks. Mid-Prairie’s defense was keyed by Justice Jones with 13 tackles. With the win, the No. 14 Raiders are 3-3 and an unbeaten 3-0 in district play. Mid-Prairie falls to 3-3 and is now 2-1 in district. The Hawks return home for the regular season finale Friday when they host Centerville for Senior Night.