March 28, 2024

Mustangs to face tight-end heavy Mid-Prairie

Playing in front of its home fans should help Prairie City-Monroe’s football team when the postseason begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Mustangs are undefeated on their home field this season but weren’t given any favors by the Iowa High School Athletic Association when given their first-round matchup early Saturday morning.

PCM will face a Mid-Prairie team which has the same 7-2 record that the Mustangs boast — a team who has seen itself in the Associated Press rankings a few weeks this season.

Mid-Prairie is not your typical three seed out of Class 2A. Its only two losses came to No. 7 Central Lee and No. 10 Williamsburg in district play.

The Golden Hawks also have defeated three playoff teams this season in 3A’s Clear Creek-Amana, 2A’s Mediapolis and 1A’s Sigourney-Keota.

“They are a very tough three seed,” PCM coach Greg Bonnett said. “They are a very tough team.”

One advantage PCM will have will be the fact that the Mustangs won’t have to get into a bus and travel more than two hours on a Wednesday night.

“It’s already a short week so not having to travel is a big deal,” Bonnett said. “We get to keep things close to normal and stay with our routine.”

The Golden Hawks (7-2) will look to run it first. They’ll use multiple tight end sets to try to gain an advantage on the ground.

Ryan Cortum has thrown for only 956 yards and eight scores. But two Mid-Prairie tailbacks have carried it more than 110 times each.

Ricky Vargas has 900 yards and 11 touchdowns on 114 carries, while Nolan Faselt has 625 yards and eight scores on 121 carries.

Helping in the run game is talented tight end Levi Duwa, who also has 19 catches for 319 yards and three scores in the passing game. Duwa is a standout defensive end, too. He leads all of 2A with 20 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.

Cameron Tolander leads the defense with 65 tackles, while Paul Hawbaker has four interceptions and defensive touchdown.

Faselt has taken two of his three picks back for scores, too.

PCM senior Logan Gilman enters the game with the most passing yards (2,003) in 2A and the third-most touchdown passes with 21.

Wide receiver Luke Greiner is fourth in receptions (51) and second in touchdowns (12).

Neither team is currently ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll, but Mid-Prairie (12th) received five votes and PCM (14th) totaled four votes this week.