No. 8 Mid-Prairie sinks Columbus soccer with goal in first minute of 2nd half

COLUMBUS JUNCTION — It happened almost immediately as the second half began, but it was carefully planned, constructed and well executed.

A 2-1 lead at halftime of Monday’s soccer match between Class 1A No. 8 Mid-Prairie and Columbus was 3-1 just 17 seconds into the second half, before the Golden Hawks finished with a 6-2 win over the home team.

Mid-Prairie is 6-0, playing at Cascade Friday and hosting ranked Regina Tuesday. Columbus is 5-2 and hosts No. 2 Notre Dame today.

Mid-Prairie started the game “flat,” according to their coach.

Columbus took the lead on a "silly goal. It was a wake-up call,“ said Mid-Prairie head coach Pat Cady, who had to wake the refs up when an offsides call negated a tying goal. "There is no offsides on a throw-in.”

Owen Trimpe’s goal was counted, then he scored again, both times on assists from brother Ethan Trimpe. His hat trick came from assistant coach Wyatt Cady finding a weakness in Columbus and exploiting it so that Jack Pennington provided the assist. Beau Flynn made it 4-1, 13 minutes later on an assist from Aaron Slaubaugh. With 10 minutes left, Pennington fed Zeus Fugate for a 5-1 lead.

Gary Molina gave the Wildcats brief hope with a goal with 6 minutes remaining but Pennington extinguished the hope a minute later with a goal off of a rebound.

Cady had Golden Hawks pick up the pace to take advantage of their depth with “one-touch passes, playing quicker and always making a run to put the Wildcats in bad situations.”

The goals started coming easier.

“I think our potential is unlimited with these guys. Tobin (Miller) and Owen (Trimpe) with Zeus and Gunnar (Gingerich) on the outsides are giving teams fits.“