Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)

It was a high-powered offensive display by both teams Friday night at Dwight G. Sattler Field in Wellman, but when the dust cleared, the No. 5 in Class 2A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks had turned away the West Liberty Comets 56-35. Stressing fast starts, the Golden Hawks did just that, the first drive featured three plays, 65 yards, all on the ground with Hudson Ehrenfelt, including the final 41 for the score to go up 7-0. Josh Turner jumped on a fumble for the Golden Hawk defense and Mid-Prairie went 59 yards on four plays, the final 25 a touchdown toss from Brooks Weber to Nolan Jergens to cash it in for six. Twelve plays into their next drive, West Liberty’s Devin Mericle would throw it right to Golden Hawk Caeden Huston, who returned the pick 47 yards to the Comet 26, five plays later Mid-Prairie was up 21-0 on Ehrenfelt’s second scoring rush.

The Comets got on the board after forcing a Golden Hawk fumble, going three plays and 19 yards, the final 18 from Mericle to Madden Meek to make it 21-7. The Hawks got takeaway number three on a Carson Humphrey interception and marched it 32 yards on three plays, with Ehrenfelt finding the end zone for the third time on a four-yarder. The Mid-Prairie lead would grow to 28 after a defensive stop, and a four play 59 drive, finished by a Weber to Humphrey 29 yard connection to make it 35-7. The Comet answer came on the kickoff as Axell Polanco raced 96 yards the other way for a special teams score to make it 35-14. The scoring fest continued in the first half with one more touchdown for each team. A Weber to Kaden Kos touchdown of four yards finished an 80 yard drive and Meek’s jump pass to Landon Wainwright got the Comets six more, leaving the score at 42-21 at the break.

Takeaways turned to offense again for Mid-Prairie after half. A Kendrick Kos interception was returned to the Comet two, and next play Weber went Kos’ way for six through air to make it 49-21. Later in the period, West Liberty got an interception from Wainwright that turned into a 78 yard drive with Owen Daufelt running the final 13 to make it a 49-28 game. Each team would score once more, the Hawks with Weber’s school record tying sixth scoring strike of the night, a 23-yarder to Kaden Kos and West Liberty, a Briggs Collin two yard dive. On the locker room show, Mid-Prairie juniors Tommy Miller and Brooks Weber talked about the big night. “It’s a whole bunch of excitement when the offensive line is doing their job and we’re able to run the ball. It’s a unit, it’s not one person doing everything and it’s nice to get things going. We started fast. Everyone was doing their job. It’s really fun when it’s a whole team effort, and tonight was a whole team effort. The job is not finished. We have to keep going. Prepare every single week. Every week is a new district title game and it’s important that all of us remember that.”

Unofficially, Mid-Prairie outgained West Liberty 492-399, including 317-215 through the air. The Hawks won turnovers 4-2. Weber finished 17/21, for 317 yards with six touchdown throws. Carson Humphrey had four catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. Ehrenfelt finished with 31 touches for 274 yards and three touchdowns. Turner recovered a fumble and Humphrey, Huston and Kendrick Kos each had picks. Mericle led West Liberty at 15 of 32 for 215 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Mid-Prairie is now 4-1 on the year and 2-0 in district play as the Comets drop to 2-3 and 1-1 respectively. The Golden Hawks are at Central Lee in week six.