March 28, 2024

Mid Prairie proves to be too much for PCM

MONROE — Whenever Prairie City-Monroe gained a little momentum in Wednesday night’s home playoff game, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks answered back every single time.

That was especially true seconds before halftime when the Mustang defense was one play away from making back-to-back stops in PCM territory, but Mid-Prairie quarterback Ryan Cortum found Blake Schwartz in the end zone on a Hail Mary pass as the halftime buzzer sounded.

A Logan Gilman fumble set up that Golden Hawks’ score. The drive began at PCM’s 16-yard line, but a pair of penalties pushed Mid-Prairie out of the red zone.

However, the Mustang defense fell victim to the Hail Mary, which put them down 21-3 at half.

Gilman struggled in the first half fumbling twice and throwing an interception on a fourth and seven play inside Golden Hawk territory.

The senior bounced back in the second half and finished with 209 yards on 16-of-27 passes in the final game of his high school career.

“We were better this year than we thought we would be. We really came out and proved to a lot of people that PCM wasn’t just a team to walk all over,” Gilman said. “It didn’t turn out the way we wanted. We would’ve liked to make more of a run here, but sometimes it happens that way, and we can’t hang our heads.”

The Mustangs (7-3) played from behind all night as their first possession of the game ended with a three-and-out and Mid-Prairie (8-2) found the end zone on its first drive.

Chase Wilkie put the home team on the board with a 30-yard field goal as time expired in the first quarter.

The kick brought PCM within 7-3, but that’s as close as the 14th ranked team in Class 2A would get. No. 12 Mid-Prairie found the end zone two more times in the final 2:48 of the half.

PCM’s lone touchdown of the night came when senior Logan Littrell found the end zone in the third quarter. PCM’s running back tallied 33 yards on 13 carries.

His rushing score brought PCM within 21-10, but Mid-Prairie methodically made its way 80 yards down the field on its very next possession to regain an 18-point lead.

PCM coach Greg Bonnett said the team just didn’t play with enough energy to keep up with the Golden Hawks.

“Mid-Prairie’s just a real good football team. I give them all the credit in the world. We just lacked a little bit of energy tonight for whatever reason,” Bonnett said. “We didn’t play with too much enthusiasm. I’m not quite sure why, but for whatever reason we just chose tonight to play like we were almost drained.”

Littrell also led the team with 70 receiving yards on four catches. Junior Luke Greiner had 65 yards on five receptions and senior Reid Jenkins hauled in three catches for 44 yards.

Neither team scored in the final quarter, but Jenkins did prevent a score with a late interception in the corner of the end zone.

Jenkins also recorded PCM’s only two tackles for loss.

Senior Austin Sneller led the team with 10 total tackles. Littrell recorded 8.5 and senior Davis Herndon had eight. The defense also stopped a fake field goal attempt in the second quarter.

The Golden Hawks will play again Monday against top-ranked Albia (10-0). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.