Golden Hawks and Bulldogs to battle for district's top spot

The district title will pretty much be on the line when Mid-Prairie hosts second-ranked Mediapolis for Homecoming on Friday night. Both teams are 3-0 in Class 2A?s District 5.

?This is the game we were anticipating would be for the district title, and it kind of worked out that way,? Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh said.

The Golden Hawks, led by junior Eesaa Baylor?s 570 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, have won five games in a row since losing their season opener. But Mediapolis has been a juggernaut this season, winning all six of their games by an average of 42.5 points per game.

Senior quarterback Jesse Ertz has completed 78 percent of his passes for 1,165 yards, 20 touchdowns and no interceptions to lead the Bulldog offense, which scored at least 42 points in every game this year. His main targets have been seniors Jordan Wagenbach and Chase Miller. Wagenbach has 22 catches for 567 yards and eight touchdowns this season, and Miller has 16 receptions for 288 yards and seven scores.

Ertz also leads Mediapolis in rushing with 615 yards and nine touchdowns.

?Looking at his stats, they?re pretty amazing,? Cavanagh said of Ertz. ?Not only is he a good passer, but he?s a good runner. We have to try to contain him and slow him down a little bit, but it?s going to be hard. We?ll have to vary our looks defensively and tackle in space.?

Central Lee at Columbus

Columbus head coach Jeff Martin feels his team has a pretty good shot at winning Friday?s Homecoming game against Central Lee.

He should. The Hawks are 0-6 on the season and have scored just 15 points in their last five games.

?I think it?s a game we can compete and play very well in,? Martin said. ?We just have to be focused and ready to go because it?s Homecoming.?

Columbus (1-5, 1-3 Class 2A District 5) will look for another big night from senior tailback Esteban Gutierrez, who has rushed for 818 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Sigourney-Keota at Eddyville-Blakesburg

It?s do-or-die time for Sigourney-Keota. After losing four of their last five games, the Savage Cobras (2-4, 1-2 Class 1A District 6) must get back on track this week if they hope to reach the postseason. Their opponent this week, Eddyville-Blakesburg (2-4, 1-3 District 6) is in a similar situation.

?We know we?ve got to win at least two to get in,? Sigourney-Keota head coach Jared Jensen said. ?Eddyville?s kind of in the same boat. It?s going to be a game where both teams are fairly evenly matched. It?s going to be about which team wants to finish the season in the playoffs and who doesn?t.?

Both the Savage Cobras and the Rockets like to run the football. Junior Kolton Greiner has rushed for 693 yards and five touchdowns this season for Sigourney-Keota, while senior Drake Menuis has run for 419 yards and five scores this year. Stopping Menuis will be key for the Savage Cobras.

?They have a couple of good backs, but we feel like we can slow them down,? Jensen said. ?Our backers just have to flow and we have to stretch things out. Menuis had more than 100 yards last week, so it?s going to be big to slow him down and try to make somebody else beat us.?

Winfield-Mt. Union at WACO

WACO head coach Chad Edeker doesn?t want his Warriors to look past 0-6 Winfield-Mt. Union this week.

?Winfield is 0-6 and our next opponent, New London, is 0-6, and those games are easy to overlook,? Edeker said. ?But we?ve worked hard in practice to not do that. You?ve got to concentrate on this one just like any other game.?

But the Warriors (4-2, 2-2 Class A District 5) will likely be ready to take on the neighboring Wolves.

?Nobody from Wayland wants to lose to Winfield and nobody from Winfield wants to lose to Wayland,? Edeker said.

In order to beat the Wolves, the Warriors must slow down Winfield-Mt. Union fullback Conner Shellabarger, who has rushed for 341 yards this season.

?We have to really shut down the run,? Edeker said. ?They throw some, but they don?t throw too much. We?re going to spend the week working on shutting down the veer.?

Danville at Highland

Earlier this year, Highland limited Central Lee?s passing attack to just 76 yards in a 35-0 win in Donnellson on Aug. 31. The Huskies hope to bottle up Danville?s aerial attack this Friday night.

Danville senior quarterback Alek Blain has completed 76 of his 160 passes this season for 1,128 yards, 11 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also leads the Bears (3-3, 2-2 Class A District 5) in rushing with 287 yards and a touchdown on the season.

?They have a quarterback who likes to throw the ball a lot, and they throw the ball about 85 percent of the time,? Highland head coach Tony Johnson said. ?We?ve definitely got to be on our toes. But we had the same thing when we went to Central Lee on Week 2.?

The Huskies (4-2, 3-1 District 5) hope to keep rolling after last week?s 66-14 win at Van Buren. Highland totaled 487 yards of offense in that game, led by sophomore Garcia?s 149 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.