Bettendorf capitalize on Cedar Rapids Prairie Mistakes

CEDAR RAPIDS – One poor three-minute stretch was all it took.

For much of the game, Cedar Rapids Prairie was able to overcome its mistakes during Friday's home opener with Bettendorf at John Wall Field.

However, a pair of special teams miscues in the middle of the third quarter gave the Bulldogs a short field and both times they cashed in. Cannon Davis hit Jack Wessel with a pair of scoring passes and the Bettendorf defense held off a late drive from Prairie to head home with a 14-11 upset win over Class 5A No. 6 Prairie.

"We just made too many mistakes and that falls on me," said Hawks Coach Kyle Knock. "We work on it and we work on it, but they are still high school kids and you still have to keep on learning and growing each week."

The first half was a defensive battle that ended with Prairie up 3-0 on a 40-yard field goal from Junior Boxa in the first quarter.

It all turned around for the Bulldogs in the third quarter. The Hawks lined up to punt and the snap slipped out of the hands of punter David Fason. He recovered and tried to run for a first down, but came up just short. Two plays later, Bettendorf had the lead as Davis hit Wessel with a 26-yard scoring strike.

On the next Prairie series, Fason was back to punt again and this time he took off on a fake, but the Bettendorf defense was not fooled. They stopped him short of the line to gain and again had a short field. The Bulldogs drove down and took a 14-3 lead when Davis and Wessel hooked up again, this time from 9-yards out to make it 14-3.

"We just have to be better in those situations," Knock said. (Bettendorf) is a strong team and they took advantage of the opportunities they got.

To their credit, Hawks finally got a drive together. After the two teams traded turnovers, Prairie drove down the field 80 yards, capping it with a 5-yard run from Dawson Kahl. Prairie made the 2-point conversion and trailed 14-11 entering the fourth quarter.

The return of Kahl, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder who was injured in the opener against Linn-Mar and sat out last week's win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy, was a bright spot for Prairie. He rushed for 165 yards on 27 carries.

"It was good to have him back," Knock said of Kahl. "He did some really nice things out there tonight. They do a lot of moving around on their (defensive line) and our (offensive line) had some fits with it, but Dawson hits it hard and runs hard."

Bettendorf (2-1) had a chance to push its lead to six with about four minutes to play, but Fason crashed through and blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt.

That gave Prairie one final chance to drive down the field to possibly tie or win the game, but on 4th and 10 from the Bettendorf 30, Prairie quarterback Cael Kongshaug was sacked in the final minute.

Prairie faces an even bigger test when No. 1 Waukee Northwest comes to town next Friday. Last year in Week 3 at home, Prairie defeated a Southeast Polk team that went on to win the state title.

"We reminded them that we put it on Southeast Polk pretty good in Week 3 last year and they went on to win it all," Knock said. "I told them after you get your butt kicked like we did tonight that you have to go back to work. We'll do that and I know we will be ready to play against Waukee Northwest."