Mid-Prairie senior Nathan Quinby played his final high school football game in October, but he wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats.

“You know, my teammates and my coaches just made me fall in love with the game and I just couldn't imagine leaving it,” Quinby said on Friday at a signing ceremony at the Mid-Prairie High School. 

Quinby will be attending Loras College in Dubuque, and he’ll be joing the Duhawk football program. 

“I'm really excited to be able to continue for another four years,” Quinby said.

"The coaching staff really drew me to Loras, and the way they play defense. I'm a (defensive back) and they play cover three and a little bit of press man, which creates a lot of opportunities for me to get turnovers and make plays on the ball. So I’m really excited to join their team.”

Head coach Steve Helminiak will be in his eighth season coaching his alma mater next year. The Duhawks were 5-5 last season, their best finish under Helminiak. 

Quinby made 16.5 tackles during his senior season and intercepted a pass in Mid-Prairie’s loss to Williamsburg. On the offensive side of the football, he scored a touchdown in the Golden Hawks’ 49-7 win over Central Lee in the first round of the playoffs.

Golden Hawk head coach Pete Cavanagh said that Quinby will bring a lot of energy to the Duhawk football program.

“He’s just a great, coachable kid,” Cavanagh said. “Really made a lot of improvement. He just got better every year, committed himself.

“He's not a super big kid, so he knew he had to work hard. I think any of these guys would say he's just a great teammate, and fun to be around and positive energy.”

Quinby took a campus visit to Loras in August, and then made an official football visit in September.

“The campus is beautiful, and then the football facilities I really enjoyed,” he said. “I'm a big weight room guy and I love the weight room there.”

Quinby plans to study sports management and coaching. His dream is to make football a career.

My big goal is to work with an NFL team someday,” he said. “But if not, I can always run a YMCA, I can be an athletic director, I can do a lot of things with that degree. So, I'm really excited.”