WELLMAN

Mid-Prairie rolled out its football team to public viewing for a practice last Friday at its home stadium.

This Friday at 6 p.m., the final dress rehearsal for the 2024 season will take place at West Liberty when the Golden Hawks take on the Comets, a team that for the first time features Mid-Prairie alum Jason Dumont as its head coach.

“As a coach you want to go find a competitive program. You want to be challenged in that scrimmage,” Golden Hawks head coach Daren Lambert said.

The opening week of practice featured five days of workouts, including Friday’s two-hour session at the stadium and the team’s official photo being taken Thursday.

Lambert, who is in his second year as head coach after serving as defensive coordinator to former head coach and current athletics director Pete Cavanagh, liked what he saw Friday. In addition to returning quarterback Brady Weber, receivers Ace Peck and Kaden Kos, and running back Hudson Ehrenfelt, the team features a number of returnees who are more comfortable with Year 2 of the Lambert era.

“Where we were at the beginning of last year compared to now, I feel like we’re miles ahead,” Lambert said. “It’s a good feeling. I know the guys are comfortable with how we do our calls and different things.”

Mid-Prairie lost its first three games last year, including 51-19 to an Iowa City Regina team that was coached by Dumont. But last year’s jitters are gone and the roster is solidly in the 50s.

“Guys are competing,” Lambert said. “I feel like we have a lot of depth in different areas. That includes special teams.”

And that brings us to Friday, when the Golden Hawks will not only face a River Valley Conference rival and a familiar coach, but many of the team’s underclassmen will be battling for starting jobs.

“We have some guys that are new to the varsity level or getting some more varsity time or have moved into a backup role, so it’s going to give them an opportunity to kind of compete and we can see who does well and where we can put them,” Lambert said.

Dumont, a former All-Big Ten lineman at the University of Iowa, was head coach at Regina the last three years and an assistant coach before that during the Regals’ run of state championships. He closed out his run at Regina following his son’s graduation last spring, but then West Liberty sought him out. The Comets won just one game last year and began the season with a 38-point loss to Dumont’s Regina squad.

Even after just a summer and two weeks of practice under Dumont, Lambert is expecting a battle. And that’s precisely what he is hoping for.

“We don’t want to just roll through an opponent and we definitely won’t do that against West Liberty,” Lambert said. “When you’re challenged in those scrimmages, it just shows things in areas that you’ve got to work on. And that’s what we want. And ultimately, you want to walk away with everyone healthy for week one.