Williamsburg powers past Mid-Prairie with big second half and late stop

WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg was competitive in its first three games of the season, only to see opponents pull away for victories.

This time, in a close game the Raiders made the plays needed to earn the victory.

Williamsburg scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, thwarted a Mid-Prairie theat and burned the final 90 seconds off the clock for a 24-21 Class 2A District 6 win Friday night at Bob Murphy Stadium. The Raiders have won three straight games and both teams moved to 3-3 overall.

“I was having flashbacks of the first three weeks, losing close games,” Williamsburg Coach Curt Ritchie said. “It was good to see our guys make a play at the end. They got it turned around, because we’ve been on the other side of it.”

Mid-Prairie limited Williamsburg to a 38-yard Alex Marovets field goal in the first half, but the Raiders turned things around after the break.

Owen Douglas rushed for 81 yards in the second half. His first rush was a punishing 49-yard TD jaunt. Douglas powered through the first level, stepped out of an arm tackle and then beat a defender to the goal, pulling the Raiders within 14-10 with 4:31 left in the third.

“I just found a gap,” Douglas said. “I know my coach teaches me to get low. Luckily, I broke those tackles and out-ran that last guy.”

He also added a 1-yard TD plunge with 10:43 to go for a 17-14 edge. Gable Dayton led Williamsburg with 132 yards rushing on 25 carries.

“Will came in and it was just pure will,” Ritchie said. “He has the speed to make some things happen.

“It was nice. I thought our line improved tremendously this week. They were better on pass protection (and) the first time we ran for more than 200 yards, I think. Owen and Gable did a nice job handling the ball back there for us.”

Mid-Prairie answered with Will Cavanagh’s third TD pass, hitting Jack Pennington for an 18-yard score to reclaim the lead, 21-17.

Williamsburg went 56 yards on five plays in 1:26, capping the drive with a play-action pass from quarterback Cade Ritchie to Jake Weber for a 33-yard TD.

“We set that play up all game,” Weber said. “We said it was open. Coach Ritchie said we have to wait and set it up to get the safety to come down on the sweep.

“Cade knew he had all the time in the world to throw it. He threw a good ball out there. I just caught in and walked in the end zone.”

As Mid-Prairie threatened in the final minutes, the Raiders defense finally stopped the Golden Hawks on fourth down from the Williamsburg 9. Will DeSmet and Kobe Julius had key pass breakups.

Mid-Prairie scored on two fourth-down conversions in the first half and the Raiders had failed to stop them on fourth down until then.

“The biggest thing was preaching this is the place to make a play and where games are won,” Weber said. “We had a couple players step up for fourth-down stops. It was big.”

“This fourth quarter showed when we get put on our heels we don’t fall back,” said Weber, who had an interception and four catches for 75 yards. “We step forward. We have great coaches that preach finish the game, finish the game, so I think that was big. We’re going to finish.”

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The Golden Hawks produced three impressive drives in the first half. Weber spoiled their first possession, picking off quarterback Cavanagh in the end zone on third-and-5 from the Raiders 7.

The interception preserved Williamsburg’s 3-0 led from a 38-yard field goal by Marovets.

Mid-Prairie finished its next two series, converting key fourth downs to put up 14 straight points.

The Golden Hawks went 83 yards on 13 plays. Cavanagh floated a pass to the back of the end zone that Jarrett Hoffman hauled in for a 7-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.

The score was set up by a 24-yard pass to Justice Jones on fourth-and-21 after three straight sacks seemed to stall the drive.

A fumbled snap on a punt gave the Golden Hawks a short field, taking over at Williamsburg’s 17. Four plays later, Cavanagh converted another fourth down with a 17-yard TD to Jones.

Mid-Prairie took a 14-3 lead into halftime.

Cavanagh finished with 296 yards of total offense, including 209 rushing. Tyler Hellmuth added 75 rushing yards for the Golden Hawks.

AT WILLIAMSBURG

MP WILL

First Downs 18 12

Rushes-Yds 33-171 38-207

Pass Yds 209 89

Comp-Att-Int 15-26-1 7-17-0

Total Yds 380 296

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-0

Punts-Avg. 3-33.0 3-42.0

Penalties-Yds 3-15 3-26

Mid-Prairie 0 14 0 7—21

Williamsburg 3 0 7 14—24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Mid-Prairie: Will Cavanagh 20-87, Tyler Helmuth 12-75, Braden Hartley 1-9. Williamsburg: Gable Dayton 25-132, Owen Douglas 7-81, Kobe Julius 1-6, Derek Weisskopf 1-1, Team 4-(-13).

PASSING – Mid-Prairie: Cavanagh 15-26-1-209. Williamsburg: Cade Ritchie 7-17-0-89.

RECEIVING – Mid-Prairie: Justice Jones 4-80, Jack Pennington 6-69, Collin Miller 1-29, Jarrett Hoffman 3-28, Helmuth 1-3. Williamsburg: Jake Weber 4-75, Gavin Doehrmann 1-9, Weisskopf 1-5, Julius 1-0.

SCORING SUMMARY

WILL – FG Alex Marovets 38

MP – Jarrett Hoffman 7 pass from Will Cavanagh (Collin Miller kick)

MP – Justice Jones 17 pass from Cavanagh (Miller kick)

WILL – Owen Douglas 49 run (Marovets kick)

WILL – Douglas 1 run (Marovets kick)

MP – Jack Pennington 18 pass from Cavanagh (Miller kick)

WILL – Jake Weber 33 pass from Cade Ritchie (Marovets kick)