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Golden Hawk football knocked out before Dome
10th-ranked Mid-Prairie falls on road to No. 2 PCM
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MONROE — A tight, defensive struggle turned into a fourth-quarter runaway for second-ranked PCM against No. 10 Mid-Prairie in Friday night's Class 2A state quarterfinal football game. PCM ended the Mid-Prairie football season 41-0, booking a ticket to the state semifinals in the process.
Mid-Prairie trailed 14-0 at halftime, but that doesn’t mean the Golden Hawks didn’t have chances. In the final two minutes of the second quarter, Mid-Prairie took the ball inside the 10-yard line, but a 4th-and-7 throw to the end zone to cut the lead in half fell innocently to the turf.
“When you're on the doorstep, you've got to kick the door in,” said Mid-Prairie head coach Darren Lambert. “We failed to do that in the first half.”
PCM's lead was still 14-0 after three quarters, as Mid-Prairie’s defense started to figure out the Mustang running game, but the Golden Hawks just couldn’t put any points on the board.
Mid-Prairie took some shots in the fourth quarter, but the PCM defense stood strong. The Mustangs pounced on a couple of Golden Hawk mistakes and PCM piled on 27 fourth-quarter points to run away with the game.
“You've got to start taking chances when you're down and time starts running out,” Lambert said. “You put yourself in some tough spots, and credit to them, they made some plays.”
Mid-Prairie quarterback Brady Weber threw for 141 yards and one interception in the loss, while also running for 13 yards. His favorite receivers were Ace Peck and Cobi Hershberger, who had 32 and 31 receiving yards respectively. Kaden Koss went for 26.
Hudson Ehrenfelt led Mid-Prairie on the ground, going for 50 yards on 18 carries.
PCM quarterback Gavin VanGorp had three touchdown runs for the Mustangs. Adrien Robbins ran for one touchdown and put an exclamation point on with a 40-yard pick-six late in the fourth.
Mid-Prairie's season ended at 7-4. The Golden Hawks won seven in a row after an 0-3 start.
“We had some guys who probably were 100 pounds less than the guy cross from them, and they still battled,” Lambert said. “The biggest take away was the fight they continued to show throughout the entire season and even tonight.”
The 2024 Mid-Prairie football team was the fifth in school history to make the state quarterfinals.
PCM goes to the UNI-Dome with an 11-0 record. The Mustangs will play No. 3 Spirit Lake on Saturday at 10 a.m.
