WEST BURLINGTON

You won’t see this in the game stats of Mid-Prairie’s 42-21 football win Sept. 20 at West Burlington/Notre Dame.

Not really.

The Falcons, who were burned five times for touchdowns by Mid-Prairie’s Hudson Ehrenfelt in a 22-point loss last year, stacked their run defense this time against Ehrenfelt. It worked. Sort of.

Ehrenfelt scored only four touchdowns this time, including twice in the fourth quarter when the Golden Hawks scored three times.

But what really helped the Golden Hawks (1-3) win their 2A-5 district opener and blast right into the middle of a district title race in just one night was a leaping touchdown catch by Ace Peck in the final seconds of the first half and a 48-yard touchdown pass from Brady Weber to Kaden Kos in the third quarter when Weber was almost sacked multiple times on the same play.

And that’s what put a smile on the face of Ehrenfelt. The other guys.

“It’s amazing having all these other players on the team,” said Ehrenfelt, who ran for 117 yards and started the scoring in the opening quarter with a 48-yard sprint for a touchdown. “They have to target more than one person. All the weapons we have can open up different options. It can open up the pass game for the run game, and vice versa.”

The teams were headed for a 14-14 halftime tie when Weber escaped a pass rush and flung a 43-yard pass toward the end zone. Peck jumped up for the ball and somehow pulled it down for a score with 3.5 seconds left in the first half.

“Going in at halftime, we really stole the momentum right there,” Golden Hawks head coach Daren Lambert said.

Then, there was the Kos touchdown catch in which Weber pulled off an impression of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Weber rolled right as he looked for a receiver and was trapped by West Burlington’s defenders, so he escaped a pair of would-be tacklers, reversed direction and went left instead. Just before he was smashed to the ground and before he hit the sidelines, Weber sent a pass downfield. Kos jumped up, caught it and cruised into the end zone for his second touchdown of the season, shouting as he scored.

Kos also had an interception.

“We know he’s a great player, he knows he’s a great player,” Lambert said of Kos. “I think he even got a lot more confidence tonight. After he made a couple of plays, it just seemed like those first couple of steps were a little bit quicker. And when he goes, he can be dynamic.”

Kos’ touchdown catch broke a 21-21 tie. The Golden Hawks scored two more times, on touchdown runs by Ehrenfelt, after that and didn’t give up a point.

And just like that, a team that had lost its first three games to Wilton, Iowa City Regina and Sigourney Keota, was talking district.

“We talked about, there’s nothing we can do about the first three weeks,” Lambert said. “We felt like we probably should have won every single one of those games, we were four or five plays away. It’s a brand new season.”

“Our goals are win the district, home playoff game and deep playoff run,” Lambert added. “All those things are still on the table. We can’t go undefeated in the district and win the district if you don’t go 1 and 0. And we did that tonight.”

Ehrenfelt, who was one of the top running backs in the state last year, has become a part of the Golden Hawks passing game this year because defenses are focusing on stopping his runs. He ranks No. 15 in Class 2A with 558 all-purpose yards. While he scored the first touchdown Friday, the running game really started grinding in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to run, but they weren’t allowing us to,” Lambert said. “They were just sending more than we had to block, so that’s when we started airing it out. We noticed that when Brady scrambled, their eyes came into the backfield and they stopped covering, so we told receivers, find a way to get open. And we found some guys open.”

Like Kos. And like Peck.

Weber leads 2A-5 with 56 completions, 802 passing yards and 5 touchdown passes in four games. He completed 13 of 20 passes for a season-high 213 yards against West Burlington as the Golden Hawks topped the Falcons for the 14th straight time.

GAME STATS

MID-PRAIRIE 42, WEST BURLINGTON 21

Mid-Prairie                    7     14    7    14   --  42

West Burlington/ND    0     14    7    0   --   21

M-P: Hudson Ehrenfelt 48 run (Kale Miller kick)

WB/ND: Quincy Collins 5 run (Taylor Lundgren kick)

WB/ND: Landry Haberichter 35 run (Lundgren kick)

M-P: Ehrenfelt 5 run (Miller kick)

M-P: Ace Peck 43 pass from Brady Weber (Miller kick)

WB/ND: Collins 3 run (Lundgren kick)

M-P: Kaden Kos 62 pass from Weber (Miller kick)

M-P: Ehrenfelt 4 run (Miller kick)

M-P: Ehrenfelt 12 run (Miller kick)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Passing: M-P, Brady Weber, 13-20, 213 yards, 2 TD; WB/ND, Landry Haberichter, 4-7, 61 yards, 1 INT.

Rushing: M-P, Hudson Ehrenfelt, 21-117, 4 TD; WB/ND, Quincy Collins, 29-163, 2 TD; Haberichter, 11-54; Jayden Nanthan, 6-22.

Receiving: M-P, Ace Peck, 4-98, 1 TD; Tatem Telfer, 3-28; Kaden Kos, 2-53, 1 TD; Blake Swart, 2-12; Cobi Hershberger, 1-20; Ehrenfelt, 1-2; WB/ND, Liam Stensgard, 2-42; Levi Fletcher-Bates, 1-18; Collins, 1-1.

Tackling leaders: M-P, Kaden Kos, 13; Hershberger, 7; Conner Wiles, 6.5; Swart, 5.5; WB/ND, Emry Watson, 8.5; Collins, 7.5.