Trip to state on the line for Golden Hawks

It all comes down to this for the Mid-Prairie boys basketball team.

To say the Golden Hawks have had a great season might be a bit of an understatement. They have now accumulated 23 straight wins, the most in school history, but other things will be on their mind come Thursday night with a history defining fixture against Northeast (16-8).

While the undefeated season is an added historical monument for a group of a boys that have been playing side-by-side since elementary school, it takes a back seat to their hopes and dreams of walking on the hardwood at Wells Fargo Arena. It will be decided at Muscatine High School against the Rebels.

Historically, Northeast has held the advantage over the past 10 years. The Rebels have won seven of the last 10.

That narrative has been squashed in the past two years, as Mid-Prairie holds the reins, coming away victorious in the previous two meetings.

It’s not going to be a walk in the park for the Golden Hawks though as both of those contests have been decided by seven points or less, the most recent a Dec. 21 five point victory 60-55.

“We played them right before Christmas,” Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert said. “It was a tough one. One of those first few tests where we had some adversity and had to find a way.”

The Golden Hawks have handled business in their first two playoff games this season. After a first-round bye, they grabbed wins over Mediapolis and West Burlington.

The Rebels are playing their best basketball of late. After falling in their last two games of the regular season, the Rebels haven’t missed a beat. They thrashed Louisa-Muscatine in the first round and followed with wins over Wilton and Camanche, both teams that got the better of them in the regular season.

Senior Carter Harmsen leads Mid-Prairie with a 20 points per game average, while grabbing 8.2 rebounds a game. Ethan Kos follows, averaging 10.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds.

Northeast is paced by Carter Pataska and Cade Hughes. Pataska averages 13.1 points per game and Hughes averages 13.2.

It’s win or go home and it all goes down on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Muscatine.

“We've got to keep in mind our fundamentals, and we'll hopefully be able to stick it out,” Harmsen said.