After a dominant win against the local Highland Huskies, Mid-Prairie returned home to face the visiting Maquoketa Cardinals on Friday, April 28. After scoring nine goals last year, senior, Owen Trimpe, has been on an absolute tear and has 12 goals on the year. He currently ranks 11th in 2A competition with his goal total. Trimpe does not seem satisfied with wins or the multi-goal games. He clearly craves more.

“[Trimpe] has just always been a great player. Lately, it seems like he realized that his high school career is coming to an end and he’s [looking] at those leaderboards all the time at the school and I think he wants to put his name up there,” head coach Wyatt Cady said. “There have been games where we haven’t been able to score and now, he’s just kind of taken that on his shoulders where he knows it’s his job.”

The Golden Hawks, after beating Maquoketa 3-1, have a four-game winning streak, their best stretch of the season.

“I thought this was a good one. Defensively we stepped up in this game,” Cady said. “Dylan Henry had his best game of the year. Every game we just keep getting a little better. One player steps up and you know, next three games, that player still [doesn’t] come back down from where they stepped up to.”

Trimpe scored the first goal, a breakaway, making it look easy. If he is all alone, good chance he scores. With 13 minutes left in the first half, Trimpe scored his second of the game. He ran the first half.

There was a slight pause in the action to tend to junior Hugo Banuelos, who hurt his hand. He later came back into the game with his hand taped up. 12 minutes into the second half and Banuelos had his best chance of the night, a golden breakaway that alerted the Maquoketa goalie to leave his post and cover up the ball right as Banuelos took his shot, a fast sequence and great save to prevent a goal for Banuelos. It would’ve been his first of the season.

The Cardinal luck would soon run out as they surrendered a penalty kick to junior, Tucker Miller, who would not be denied. This gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead with 18:22 remaining.

The Cardinals would quickly respond with their only goal of the night, scoring with 16:55 left off the foot of Maquoketa freshman, Nolan Ehlinger.

This led to some radio silence before Mid-Prairie’s next offensive onslaught. Trimpe, working hard to assist or score on the next Hawk goal, made three spectacular passes from the corner to the front of the net. On one attempt, Trimpe sent a pass in behind the Cardinal defense, setting up senior, Noah Ford, who fanned on the shot. The other two were defended well by the Maquoketa defense after Mid-Prairie secured the pass.

After three great stops, Maquoketa gained some momentum of their own and sprung on offense. At one point, Mid-Prairie junior, Joe Hall, left the net to quell the ball but Maquoketa stole it and had an opportunity with a wide-open net. This is when junior, Beau Flynn, took place of Hall and jumped to the ball, blocking it with his body and preserving the two-goal Hawk lead.

The last chance came with just over a minute left when Miller set up Trimpe with a great pass. Trimpe made way to the front of the net to collect the pass. It bounced off Trimpe’s chest and just missed. This was the final chance for a Mid-Prairie goal.

MP 1,  REGINA 6  (5/1)

After the 3-1 win, Mid-Prairie got the weekend to rest before playing an extremely tough opponent in the Regina Regals of Iowa City. Mid-Prairie did hold a few slight advantages over the Regals. 

First, the game took place in Wellman, a home matchup for the Hawks. The game will not be a doubleheader, as the Mid-Prairie girls traveled to Regina for their matchup. Also, Regina played in a soccer tournament in Davenport, Iowa, over the weekend. Of their three games, they won two. This gave them less rest than the Hawks.

Mid-Prairie hoped to ride off of their four-game winning streak and rely on the hot foot of Owen Trimpe to pull off a big upset against the Regina Regals. Unfortunately, the Hawks were unable to pool together momentum, falling 6-1.

After one frame of action, Mid-Prairie was only behind by two goals, a 3-1 deficit. A comeback is doable. But the second half was more of the same for the Regals, scoring an additional three goals to reach the finale.

This season has been a massive shift for the Regals, going 10-12 last season to 11-2 so far, ranking second in all of 1A competition. Their offense is lethal, and their defense is a wall. Their flip is very similar though completely opposite of the Hawks season flip.

The Hawks were 11-4 last year with a 9-0 run before falling to Regina. They lost their final game of the season to West Liberty, beating Hillcrest in round one of the playoffs before falling to West Liberty again in round two, their kryptonite.

This season, the Hawks have a new coach and a few players who exited the team for a few different reasons, and it has been tough for them to adjust. They still hoist a 7-5 record and can rectify the season by finishing strong in its last three games. They play a tough 8-6 Northeast Community Schools team on Friday night before a winless Cascade Cougars next Monday. They’ll get a week’s worth of rest before their final matchup Friday, May 12, against Bellevue.

They can still string together a few momentous wins before the playoffs begin, gaining confidence and giving them an edge against their competition.