Two teams that know each other well take the pitch tonight in the playoffs at Hillcrest Academy when the home Ravens host the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks in the first round of the class 1A boys district soccer tournament. The Ravens are 7-4-2 this season, finishing fourth in the Southeast Iowa Superconference. They have been off since dropping a Superconference tournament quarterfinal to Highland in penalty kicks last week. This year, the Ravens have outscored their opponents 52-18 in total with 139 shots on goal, 84 corner kicks, 44 assists and a 75% save percentage. Individually, Mason Helmuth is the leader at 12 goals, with Micah Gerber right behind him at 11. Seth Ours holds the team lead at nine assists while Helmuth and Mason Bender each have six and in goal, Kyle Neuschwander has 55 saves. This week, Raven head coach Marcus Miller talked with KCII Sports about the keys to success for his team this postseason.
Miller said, “Part of the struggle is, the last two weeks we have had three games a week. We’re also just coming off of our banquet/prom before the Highland match, so we’re tired. We gave them some time off to rest and get refocused.”
Mid-Prairie is 2-11-2 this year, they were 2-6-2, eighth place in the River Valley Conference. The Hawks played Bellevue to a 2-2 draw Friday in Wellman for Senior Night. On the year, they have been outscored 63-15 with 75 shots on goal, 35 corner kicks, 10 assists and a 73% team save percentage. Individually, Peyton Fox has a team best five goals and two assists. Kale Miller is second with three goals and he, Matthew Troyer, Will Snider, Ashton Townsend and Jonathon Adam each have one assist. In goal, Mac Yoder has 98 saves. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Wyatt Cady shared what’s important for his team’s playoff success.
Cady said, “Our goalie (Mac Yoder) is playing really well right now. That being said, if you give the other team 12 shots on goal per game, you’re going to give up two or three goals. That’s just the way it works. Our defense just needs to tighten up a little bit and play with more aggression and pressure. On offense, we’re getting shots in games. We just have to score.”
Each team is 2-2-1 in the last five matches in this series. Their last meeting was the 2024 playoffs in Kalona where Mid-Prairie pulled a 2-1 road upset. Action starts tonight at 7p.m. At Hillcrest Academy.