The start of last Friday’s bout between Mid-Prairie and winless Central Lee was not what they planned for. 

After one quarter Mid-Prairie led 14-7, but Central Lee was driving on the Mid-Prairie defense. Then one big play changed the course of the game on the way to a 60-7 rout for Mid-Prairie. 

Two minutes into the second quarter, Mid-Prairie defensive end Josh Wallington picked up a fumble at the Mid-Prairie 4-yard line and sprinted down the field for a 96-yard touchdown return. 

“I just saw the ball pop out and was just praying to myself, ‘don’t trip, don’t trip,’” he said. “I was running and just hoping I didn’t look slow in front of everyone.”

The 6-foot-1 220-pound defensive lineman outsprinted the entire Central Lee offense with some help along the way from his teammates. From the moment of that fumble on, the Central Lee offense couldn’t find footing and was held to just 65 total yards of offense.

“It rolled them over pretty much. They were so close and didn’t get it,” Wallington said. “They just rolled over after that and you could just tell by the looks in their eyes after that play.”

Nathan Quinby fell on a ball that ricocheted off the receiving team on the next kickoff and that gave Mid-Prairie the ball back right away. It was one of four total fumble recoveries on Friday for Mid-Prairie. 

Three plays later Keegan Gingerich scored his first touchdown of the night on a 31-yard sweep to the right. Less than one minute off the clock and Central Lee’s hopes of tying the game had turned into a deficit of three touchdowns. 

Gingerich scored once more in the first half to give Mid-Prairie a 32-7 lead. The play before his touchdown catch, he dropped a sure touchdown, but knew he could make up for it. 

“The first one was a way better pass than the second one. I apologized to Brad (Tornow) because it was a good ball and I dropped it, but I just said I’ll get the next one,” Gingerich said. 

They broke the huddle for the next play and had lined up in the same exact formation and faced the same Central Lee defense. Central Lee was playing Cover 0, which means man-to-man coverage against Mid-Prairie, who was lined up with three receivers left and one right. Gingerich beat his man with an inside post route, catching the ball around the 25-yard line and beating his defender to the end zone. 

“I knew (the ball) was coming my way, they didn’t have a safety,” he said. “They were playing man across the board so I knew I had the guy beat again.”

Over the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, the game had changed from a close fight to a blowout. 

The turnover margin was 6-1 in favor of Mid-Prairie as they secured their first interceptions of the season with Vinnie Bowlin and Cole Davis intercepting passes. The Golden Hawks recovered four fumbles, including two for touchdowns. Gingerich added a fumble recovery touchdown in the second half.

The defense had their best night of the year, so far, holding Central Lee under 100 total yards of offense and keeping the Hawks to 2.0 yards per carry on the ground and only 3.3 yards per passing attempt on offense. 

The defensive ends of Jack Baker and Wallington contained Central Lee all night and combined for four tackles for loss. Cael Garvey and Kayden Reinier each had one tackle for loss. 

Kayden Reinier led the Mid-Prairie rushing attack with 141 yards rushing on 16 carries. With three touchdowns against Central Lee, Reinier pushed himself to double-digit touchdowns this season. 

The Mid-Prairie offensive line was dominant on Friday night. For example, on a crucial fourth-and-1 play in the first half Isaac Boucher drove his man 15 yards downfield before pancaking him. 

“It feels really good to do that. Obviously, just like wrestling, I guess, to make a kid get on his back feels good,” Boucher said. 

Despite a new starter on the offensive line in Gannon Callahan and some movement in positions, Boucher said the group was able to be effective through strong communication. 

“Communication was key tonight. Once we figured out that we needed to keep communicating things started going our way,” he said. 

Vinnie Bowlin spent one drive at running back and had a 59-yard touchdown called back for a block in the back. He stayed in that drive at running back, finishing with seven rushes for 37 yards. 

With no freshman-sophomore game played on Friday, Tyler Helmuth got the opportunity to play varsity. The sophomore rushed six times for 42 yards and scored his first touchdown of the season. 

After starter Brad Tornow was pulled due to the score, Vinnie Bowlin tossed his first touchdown of the season, an 11-yard pass to Jack Baker. 

Mid-Prairie is now 3-2 on the year and 1-0 in district play.