Game turns at end of half

WELLMAN -- Instead of a tale of two halves, Friday's Class 2A District 6 game between Mid-Prairie and Williamsburg at Dwight G. Sattler Field was a tale of a half short of 4 seconds and a half plus 4 seconds.

The Raiders trailed Mid-Prairie 14-7 and 21-14, but turned their fortunes when their field goal attempt with 4 seconds left turned into a touchdown for a 34-21 halftime lead.

Three third-quarter TDS in the space of 6 minutes, 12 seconds put the game out of reach.

'They are a very explosive team so it is hard when you don't tackle well and you are not in the right spots,' Mid-Prairie coach Pete Cavanaugh said.

Gage Hazen-Faber scores four touchdowns for Williamsburg and racked up 238 yards on 29 carries. On only two of those carries did he lose yards.

'I think our line continues to get better because they know if they keep playing hard, Gage does not need too much room,' Williamsburg coach Curt Ritchie said.

The Golden Hawks threw a halfback pass on a reverse on the second play from scrimmage, completing it to Tom Butters for 36 yards. An interception ended the possession, though.

The teams exchanged punts before Hazen-Fabor's 17-yard TD run capped a four-play drive that went 73 yards.

Mid-Prairie's ensuing possession saw Grant Boyse go off tackle right on the first scrimmage play and he didn't stop until he arrived in the other end zone on a 77-yard scamper and with 4 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first quarter, it was 7-7.

On the Raiders second play from scimmage after that, a lateral was fumbled, nearly picked up but then kicked toward the end zone and finally recovered by Jack Baker on the 1. A Justin Schwartz plunge over the goal line gave the Golden Hawks a 14-7 lead with 4:07 left in the first quarter.

'You need turnovers like that,' Mid-Prairie coach Pete Cavanaugh said. 'You need big plays. We were able to flip the field. It put us in good positions. That is what we were looking for. We needed to turn them over.'

With 1:53 in the first quarter, the Raiders tied it at 14 on a seven-play drive.

Mid-Prairie wasted no time in answering, going 68 yards in nine plays for a 21-14 lead with 10:06 left in the first half.

Key plays on the drive were a Brad Tornow nine-yard completion to Baker on second-and-7, a 37-yard completion on third-and-9 to Schwartz and a 17-yard TD pass to Butters on fourth-and-9.

'It was a good half because we had limited penalties, we caught the football and we made big plays,' Cavanaugh said.

The lead lasted one play as the Raiders returned the kickoff 87 yards for a 21-21 tie.

The Raiders' next possession started on the 50. Converting two fourth downs on the drive, Hazen-Fabor scored from the 7 for a 28-21 score with 4:21 on the clock.

'They are a very explosive team so it is hard when you don't tackle well and you are not in the right spots,' Cavanaugh said.

Mid-Prairie went three-and-out, then Williamsburg drove to the 13 and set up for a field goal, but a bad snap led to a scramble and a complete pass for a TD just 4 seconds before the half ended.

'That was a letdown,' Cavanaugh said. 'We have to make a play on that. I thought we did a good job to hold them to a field goal and then they make a fluke play like that. It is what it is.'

'There were a lot of crazy things that happened out here,' Ritchie said. 'Some of those things went our way, but I thought our defense really stepped up in the second half when we settled in. I think we wore them down. Our depth definitely showed. They have a lot more guys playing both ways than we do.'

That showed as the game continued and a running clock started at 62-21 with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter.

'In the second half, all the opposite of the first half happened,' Cavanaugh said. 'We got called for penalties, we dropped the ball and we just did not tackle.'

Tornow was 9 of 18 for 107 yards. Jaron Utzinger scored a TD for the final score. Schwartz had 16 carries for 62 yards and four receptions for 52 yards.

'No. 22 (Hazen-Fabor) is pretty good,' Cavanaugh said. 'They weren't doing anything different (in the third quarter). They just handed the ball off. We have to make the tackles.'

Williamsburg evens its record at 3-3 but 2-0 in the district.

Mid-Prairie is 1-5, 1-1. The Golden Hawks host Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Friday.