Mustangs gallop back to state semifinals after rout of Mid-Prairie

MONROE — The PCM football team came into its quarterfinal matchup with Mid-Prairie leading Class 2A in touchdowns, offensive yards and all-purpose yards.

The 2A No. 2 Mustangs are averaging 48 points per game through 11 games and only allowing 7.45 per contest.

But head coach Greg Bonnett still doesn’t think he’s gotten the most out of his squad quite yet. That could be a scary thought for the other remaining three teams in 2A.

PCM stayed alive and advanced to the state semifinals for the third time since 2018 and improved to 11-0 for only the third time since 2007 following a 41-0 quarterfinal win over the Golden Hawks on Friday night.

“It never gets old, and I don’t think it ever will,” Bonnett said about returning to the UNI-Dome. “We still have some work to do. I don’t think we’ve quite gotten the most out of this team yet. Now everything gets ramped up and gets more exciting.”

The Mustangs (11-0) overcame a relatively slow start to blow out their visitors. PCM led 14-0 at halftime and outscored the Golden Hawks 24-0 in the fourth quarter.

The offense rushed for 361 yards and the defense pitched its second shutout of the season and got four sacks and five tackles for loss from Trenner Van Dyke and a pick 6 from Adrien Robbins.

Robbins missed a little bit of time in the first half due to an upper body injury and was limited to only playing defense in the second half, but Shay Burns took advantage of his opportunity and rushed for a career-high 209 yards on 24 carries.

Burns gained 100 yards in the third alone and capped the victory with a 46-yard touchdown run with 3:14 to play.

“You always have to be ready, and it was one of those nights when Adrien goes down and I was needed,” Burns said. “The touchdown run was great. The hole was huge, I saw it was wide open on the outside and then I made one last cut to get into the end zone.”

PCM (11-0) faces third-ranked Spirit Lake (10-1) in the state semifinals at the UNI-Dome at 10 a.m. on Saturday in Cedar Falls.

Spirit Lake defeated North Fayette Valley, 41-13, in their quarterfinal. Top-ranked West Lyon (11-0) and fourth-ranked Van Meter (10-1) will play in the other state semifinal game.

The Mustang defense turned away Mid-Prairie on its first drive after the Golden Hawks picked up three first downs and ran 12 plays.

Keegan Fenton forced a punt when he registered a tackle for loss on third down.

The Mustangs got on the board with a 12-play, 75-yard drive. Robbins gained 15 yards and picked up a first down on his second carry.

He added runs of nine and 14 yards later before Gavin Van Gorp capped the drive with a 13-yard run and a 1-yard TD plunge with 2:09 to go in the first.

The PCM defense forced a three and out on Mid-Prairie’s second possession and the drive stalled after Van Dyke picked up his first of four sacks in the contest.

Van Dyke was back to playing both ways after going exclusively one way the week before because of an injury.

“I feel all right now. I only played on one side of the ball last week, but it’s good. I just had to play through it,” Van Dyke said. “It was great to come back and play both sides this week. They tried switching guys out for fresh bodies, but we were able to handle things pretty well up front.”

PCM extended its lead to 14-0 after an 11-play, 47-yard scoring drive that featured 11 runs.

The Mustangs picked up three third-down conversions on the possession. Van Gorp went 11 yards on third and two and gained 3 yards twice on third and one.

Robbins lost seven yards on first and goal but scored from 10 yards out one play later.

Van Gorp finished with 64 yards and three TDs on 16 carries and completed 2-of-7 through the air for 22 yards. He now leads 2A with 42 total touchdowns.

“It’s just surreal,” Van Gorp said. “This whole season has been crazy and quite an experience. The job is not finished though.”

PCM did not score again until the fourth. The Mustangs denied Mid-Prairie in the red zone later in the half.

The Golden Hawks (7-4) got a 20-yard run from quarterback Brady Weber and then Weber connected with Kaden Kos for a 28-yard gain that brought the ball inside the 10-yard line.

The next four plays resulted in only two yards and the drive ended after Weber threw an incomplete pass out of the back of the end zone on fourth down.

“The main focus for us is reading our keys, doing our job and working together,” said Tad Wilson, who finished with 4.5 tackles in the win. “We came into the season with a lot of confidence, and it grew as the season progressed.”

Burns gained 11, 9 and 27 yards on the Mustangs’ first possession of the second half, but PCM turned it over on downs. An illegal man downfield penalty negated Riley Graber’s 20-yard catch on third down.

Burns continued to be a workhorse on the next drive. He picked up a first down on an 11-yard run and then Van Gorp converted a third down and one with a 4-yard run.

Mid-Prairie stopped the Mustangs short on fourth down though to end the possession.

A 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a touchdown early in the fourth put PCM in front 21-0.

The drive featured a pair of 9-yard runs and an 8-yard advance by Burns. A face mask penalty by the Golden Hawks moved the ball forward 15 more yards before a Burns 10-yard run set up Van Gorp’s 5-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone.

“It’s next man up. He’s been waiting on his moment,” Van Gorp said about Burns. “We knew he could run the ball, but man, he had a breakout performance. The offensive line played really well tonight, too.”

Another Van Dyke sack helped PCM turn the Golden Hawks over on downs on their next possession.

PCM needed only four plays to go 44 yards and Van Gorp capped the scoring drive with a 24-yard TD run.

The Mustangs averaged 6.33 yards per carry in the victory. They now have 3,011 rushing yards for the season, which ranks second in 2A.

“The offensive line came out with a chip on their shoulder in the second half and they should have,” Bonnett said. “We challenged them at halftime. It was time to push people around and be dominant.”

The Golden Hawks gained 12 yards on their first play of the next possession, but Van Dyke made a tackle for loss, Alex Wendt registered an 8-yard sack and Robbins snagged an interception on third and 20 and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.

The final points of the game came on a 46-yard touchdown run by Burns. It capped a three-play, 50-yard drive. Burns averaged 8.7 yards per carry in the win.

“He is a Burns. And PCM and Burns go hand in hand,” Bonnett said. “He’s a really good football player. He’s a really smart football player. And he’s got great balance and physicality. He’s having a great year at linebacker and got his opportunity to carry the football tonight. What else can I say, he’s a stud.”

The offensive line’s cohesion and dominance up front in the second half helped open up large holes for Burns to run through.

“It speaks to how close we are,” Van Dyke said. “We know exactly what we’re doing up front and it was our job to pick up the young guy and keep going.”

Robbins gained 95 yards and scored one TD on his 16 carries in the first half. Gavin Steenhoek was the only other player to gain positive yards as he hauled in two catches for 22 yards. Steenhoek also gained 50 yards on five punt returns.

Van Dyke led the defense with 8.5 tackles, four sacks and five tackles for loss. Finn Wilson added 11 tackles, while Brevin DeRaad had 8.5 tackles and Burns finished with 7.5 tackles.

Robbins chipped in 3.5 tackles and the pick 6, Tad Wilson posted 4.5 tackles and Wendt and Fenton each contributed 2.5 tackles. Wendt also registered one sack.

The PCM defense snagged its 13th pick of the season, which ranks tied for fourth in 2A.

The Mustangs also limited the Golden Hawks to 62 rushing yards on 31 carries.

“It’s the greatest feeling ever to play with my brother and make plays together,” Finn Wilson said about his twin Tad. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. We knew this day would come, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

Hudson Ehrenfelt gained 50 yards on 18 carries and had three catches for 19 yards to lead Mid-Prairie. Weber was 22-of-31 through the air for 141 yards and one pick. Cobi Hershberger hauled in six passes for 31 yards and Ace Peck grabbed four passes for 32 yards.

Kos led the Mid-Prairie defense with 15 tackles and Hershberger chipped in 11 tackles. Kos leads 2A in tackles with 108.5

“We mixed it up a little bit, threw in some blitzes and mixed some coverages up,” Bonnett said. “We didn’t want them to have any clean reads. But the main thing was playing really disciplined gap control football. We weren’t in our gaps when things weren’t going as well.”

Notes: There were only four penalties in the game. PCM was flagged for three of them for 20 yards. The Mustangs did have a 21-14 advantage in first downs. … The Mustangs’ closest game this fall was the 22-point win over Des Moines Christian in the opening round of the playoffs. PCM is outscoring its opponents 530-82. … Mid-Prairie lost its first three games of the season. The Golden Hawks’ seven-game win streak was snapped on Friday.