Cedar Rapids Prairie blasts Kennedy to reach boys’ state soccer tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS — Most of the players on the field Wednesday night weren't involved.

However, each member of the Cedar Rapids Prairie boys’ soccer team remembered how 2019 ended, with a stunning 2-1 loss to Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

The 2021 edition of the Hawks made sure history did not repeat itself.

Five different Prairie players scored and the defense gave the Cougars very little space throughout the match. The end result was a resounding 5-1 win for the No. 2 Hawks in a Class 3A substate final at John Wall Field.

With the victory, Prairie (15-2) is off to state for the third time in four seasons and will play a quarterfinal match against an opponent to be determined next Tuesday at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines.

Kennedy retires at 8-10.

"We were the No. 1 seed and Kennedy upset us," remembered veteran Prairie Coach Curt Lewis. "We had the lead in the second half, had a couple of silly fouls and gave up two goals that ended that season.

"With COVID, we didn't get to play last year so this has been brewing for a while."

It didn't take Prairie long to dent the scoreboard. Junior Blake Halleran had the first Hawks tally in the ninth minute. Then, in the 30th minute, senior Max Egger hammered home a rebound from just inside the penalty area to make it 2-0.

Then freshman Gavin Lewis took a feed across the box to score just before intermission to give Prairie a 3-0 lead.

"I was a part of that team two years ago," said senior Andrew Walter, who scored Prairie's fourth goal of the match. "We were just upset about how the match ended and we just wanted to come back and beat the (heck) out of them."

Walter's score came just over a minute after Kennedy had got on the board on a penalty kick from Lwings Kabula. Freshman Will Wray closed out the scoring when he intercepted a pass and put it home in the 62nd minute.

"We really don't care who scores on this team," Walter said. "It's just a team effort and it's really fun playing with these guys and being a part of this team."

The next order of business for Prairie is to win a match at state.

"This is such a young group and they've done a great job of carrying on the tradition we have here," said Coach Lewis. "Obviously, we have never won a game in Des Moines and now that we've got there again it's a goal to get out there and win one."