KALONA 

A rivalry was renewed this past Monday when Mid-Prairie went on the road to challenge Hillcrest in a semifinal playoff matchup and there was no shortage of spectators in this clash between the Hawks and the Ravens  

The last time these two teams met was in 2022, a game decided by one goal, this time around a trip to the substate finals was on the line and once again a single score decided the victor. 

Breaking a tie in the second half Mid-Prairie defeated Hillcrest, 2-1, to advance to the next round. With this loss the Raven’s season comes to an end with a 10-4 record. The Hawks improved their record to 10-7. 

“I think they played great. We played a good team tonight. And when we play good teams, we show up,” Mid-Prairie coach Wyatt Cady said about his team. 

For a team with such a deep senior class it was only fitting that the Hawks were led by their seniors in this game. About 11 minutes into the first half Tucker Miller gave the Hawks their first lead with his fifth goal of the season off an assist from Peyton Fox. 

Hillcrest would respond, scoring an equalizer with three minutes left to go before halftime. It was Mason Swartzendruber who tied the game with his fifth goal of the season to fire up the home crowd.  

“We finally got a ball wide. Micah Gerber put a nice cross in and Mason Schwartz was there to finish it and put it in the goal,” Hillcrest coach Marcus Miller said. “It’s the things we practice and what we’ve worked on. And it was nice to see him carry that through.” 

The Ravens have only been shutout once this year and average 3.5 goals a game, so for Mid-Prairie it was a matter of when, not if Hillcrest would find the back of the net. 

“We knew they would score tonight,” coach Cady said about Hillcrest. “They’re a good offensive team. But the whole goal was to put pressure up on them and only let them score one.”

Six minutes into the second half a great chance appeared for Mid-Prairie. Miller sent an excellent cross into the box and finishing to score his first goal of the season was senior Sawyer Hough.

“We’d practiced it all week, and, I think Sawyer was looking to the right, and that ball was on his left side, and he used the back of his heel behind his head and put that thing in the back of the net,” coach Cady said about Hough’s goal.

Hough’s miraculous goal ended up being the game winner as neither defense let up a score for the remainder of the game.  

With their season ending in the semifinals, the Ravens can be rest assured that they have a young team who is only going to get better.

“It’s growing pains. We only had one senior on the team. So still a relatively young team,” coach Miller said. “We fought hard all night long. I was happy with how they played.”

For Mid-Prairie their attention now shifts to a rematch with Regina for a chance to qualify for the state tournament.  

“We know they’ll start with the same formation as Hillcrest ran tonight, but they’re going to use the outside mids more, so our game plan is going to have to shift a little bit,” coach Cady said about Regina.  

“We won’t be able to be as dominant in the middle. We’re going to have to shift back and play some more defense and be more counterattack heavy versus where we’re connecting through passes. Should definitely be a good game.”  

Mid-Prairie (10-7) went on the road to battle Regina (14-3) in a state qualifying match on May 22.