Mid-Prairie finished the first three quarters of the fresh/soph game on Friday looking aimless. 

They were down 20-0 and had struggled to move the ball all game. 

That changed completely in the fourth quarter as they scored three touchdowns in the final eight minutes of play to win 24-20. 

The first touchdown was a Tyler Helmuth 5-yard rush followed by a Cain Brown catch for the two-point conversion. 

Grinnell burned the clock from 8:03 following the touchdown to 5:30 before they were forced to punt. 

Helmuth returned the punt all the way to the Grinnell 29, setting Mid-Prairie up with a short field. 

Two plays later Will Cavanagh hit Shawn Dodds in the corner of the end zone on a 15-yard fade route. Another two-point conversion brought the game to 20-16. 

The defense had made a change to load the box with eight defenders in the second half, forcing Grinnell to throw the ball. 

That change paid off with a Collin Miller interception at the Grinnell 36-yard line with 4:07 left. 

Mid-Prairie then had plenty of time ahead of them to work for a game-winning drive. 

With 1:34 left in the game, Mid-Prairie took a timeout facing fourth-and-2 at the Grinnell 16. They went with a call up the gut, with Cavanagh sneaking behind Gannon Callahan and Jack Zahradnek for a first down. 

The next three plays were incomplete passes, including a drop by a wide-open Dodds in the end zone. 

He made up for that two plays later on fourth-and-10, hauling in a pass from Cavanagh for a touchdown with 55 seconds left. 

The Hawks then forced a turnover on downs to win. 

“It is a confidence booster, I think it changes the whole season,” Will Cavanagh said. “A 20-0 loss would have been horrible, but the comeback helps us go into next week looking for another win.”