Williamsburg raids Hawks

After holding Williamsburg to six points in the second half, Mid-Prairie looked to take advantage of a strong defensive performance against the Raiders.

That offensive spark never came against a stout Raider defense, as the No. 6 ranked Golden Hawks were held scoreless in the game, falling 25-0 at home to No. 7 ranked Williamsburg on Friday night.

?I thought our kids played hard, but their guys just seemed to make more plays,? Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanaugh said. ?They are a good football team and very quick offensively and defensively. We made key mistakes at key times in the first half, but we couldn?t play catch-up with them.?

The loss is the first on the year for Mid-Prairie (5-1, 2-1 in district play) while Williamsburg (5-1, 4-0 in district play) claimed its fourth-straight win and sits atop the district.

?It?s a district game, and we just have to move on,? Cavanaugh said. ?We need to make the top four (for a playoff game) and top two get a home game and we have a very good team coming in next week, and it won?t get any easier with Central Lee coming in.?

Mid-Prairie?s offense had an early opportunity to strike, but a dropped deep pass from senior Ryan Cortum to junior Levi Duwa forced an early punt for the Hawks.

After trading possessions, Williamsburg struck with its first score of the game late in the first quarter, as Blake Hughes capped off a 63-yard drive with a 2-yard run.

A Mid-Prairie punt on its next offensive series led to another Hughes 2-yard run to score for the Raiders, who took a 12-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The struggles for the Mid-Prairie offense continued in the ensuing possession and led to a fourth-straight punt. Williamsburg struck fast on their offensive opportunity, with a one-play, 43-yard drive that saw quarterback Vic Malloy connect with Noah Heitshusen to give the Raiders a 19-0 lead.

The first Mid-Prairie first down of the game came on the next possession with 7:31 left in the second quarter, but the Hawks sputtered into halftime down by 19.

The Hawks picked up a pair of quick first downs to open the second half, but turned the ball over on downs at the Williamsburg 30-yard line. The Raiders drove down the field for a 33-yard field goal.

A Cortum interception halted the next Mid-Prairie drive, and the Raiders took the ball into the fourth quarter for another field goal to round out the scoring.

?I know we are better than that,? Cavanaugh said. ?We didn?t tackle well and (Williamsburg) has some good players. I thought we played well in the second half, but if the offense isn?t producing anything, it?s hard to continually stop them.?

Offensively, the Hawks were led by junior running back Ricky Vargas, who had 87 yards rushing, while junior receiver Levi Duwa had 93 yards receiving on five catches.

Defensively, Vargas recovered a fumble to go with his six tackles, while Cortum picked off a Malloy pass and had six tackles.

Cameron Tolander had 11.5 tackles to lead the team while Nolan Faselt added 9.5 tackles.

Mid-Prairie will host Central Lee in Week 7, as they look to right the ship after the first loss of the season. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.