Defense leading No. 8 Hawks

Over the past three weeks, it might be harder to find a better defense in the state of Iowa than the one in Wellman.

Aside from giving up seven points to Clear Creek-Amana in Week 2, the Hawks have yet to allow another point go on the scoreboard, including shutouts against Louisa-Muscatine and West Burlington (who was ranked No. 15 at the time).

That momentum has propelled Mid-Prairie to a 4-0 record, and the No. 8 ranking in Class 2A for the state of Iowa.

A big reason for the Hawks? defensive success boils down to one thing: continuity.

Three seniors helm the Mid-Prairie linebacker corps, with Karson Duwa, Nolan Faselt and Cameron Tolander leading the charge with junior speedster Ricky Vargas joining the crew as a key part of the crew.

?Besides Ricky, me, Karson and Cam have always been in the same class together,? Faselt said. ?We grew up together, have memories together and love to play for each other. Now that Ricky has joined in, we love him too.?

That continuity has helped them on the football field, as they have teamed up to allow an average of 7.25 points per game as a defense.

?(Continuity has helped) quite a bit,? Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanaugh said. ?Having the experience back really helps us and they know what our coaches want. That makes it easier to teach and that makes it nice.?

Mid-Prairie?s defense has been able to capitalize on opponents? mistakes, forcing 10 turnovers on the season (eight interceptions, two fumbles) and score four defensive touchdowns on the season.

Faselt has two of the teams? interceptions, and returned both of them for scores.

?Every week we try to do our best to learn their plays,? Faselt said. ?Then we can read it just right and create chaos.?

The balanced defensive attack has seen all four linebackers record at least 10 tackles, led by Tolander who has a team-high 26.5 tackles on the year. Karson Duwa, who is third on the team with 19.5 tackles, credited all that success to the play of the men up front.

?Our defensive line is taking up blocks and allowing us to come free,? Duwa said. ?That?s the biggest success we have right now, is that the d-line is doing what they are taught to do and it shows on the field.?

As extra motivation, the linebackers are setting goals each week for themselves as they look to continue their streak of shutouts in a non-district game against Sigourney-Keota on Friday night.

As the Hawks prepare for the unique single-wing attack of the Cobras, they will have to take note of the numbers that Cobra senior running back Peyton Crawford has put up over the past weeks.

With the exception of a game against Regina two weeks ago where Crawford only managed 63 yards rushing, the Cobra senior has put up more than 200 yards rushing twice in the last three weeks, including a 357-yard, 6 touchdown performance against Pella Christian a week ago.

?The last couple of weeks, we?ve started to figure out what goals we want moving forward, once we found out what we have,? Cavanaugh said. ?Considering the numbers (Crawford) has put up, we have a goal as far as what we want to limit him to. It?s added motivation.?

As far as containing Crawford, Vargas said the team needs to stick to their assignments and keep it simple.

?We need to make sure he doesn?t have any cutback lanes and contain the outside,? the Mid-Prairie junior said.

Although, with the early dominant success (they?ve outscored opponents 121-29 this season), they aren?t letting it get into their heads right now.

?Rankings don?t mean anything,? Tolander said. ?Especially at this point in the season, you can still fall to the bottom. We have to be ready to go.?

Mid-Prairie will travel to Sigourney for a 7 p.m. kick off on Friday.