Ground game leads Eagle rally

     Midland rallied from a 26-8 first half deficit, and racked up 351 rushing yards, to score a 50-47 victory over Lone Tree in a season-opening high school football game Friday, Aug. 17 in Wyoming.

     Whereas most prep teams in Iowa begin the season this coming Friday, Midland and Lone Tree were among the schools that scheduled a “week zero” game and will end up with 10 regular season games instead of nine.

     The Eagles had triple-digit rushing efforts from Alex Smith (110 yards), Wilson Buckwalter (106) and Carter Mohr (106).

     The turning point in the game came in the second quarter, with Midland trailing by 18. Brett Schoenherr made an interception to stop one Lone Tree drive. A bad snap on a punt gave Midland the ball at the Lone Tree 2-yard line to set up one touchdown, and moments later another Lone Tree fumble set up another Eagle score. Mohr took advantage of the last two turnovers, scoring on runs of 1 and 9 yards, as Midland took a 30-26 lead by halftime.

     Midland led 50-47 when Lone Tree drove to the Eagle 20-yard line with less than three minutes to play. But a poor snap on a 45-yard field goal try enabled Midland to keep the lead, and the Eagles picked up a couple of first downs to run out the clock.

     Mohr finished with three touchdowns, and Alex Smith had two. Quarterback Britan Martens rushed for one score and passed for another, to Mohr on a 26-yard play.

     Defensively, Griffin Gravel led the team with 5.5 tackles, including a sack. Carsen Rupp had five tackles, Jensen Dodge had 4.5 tackles and a fumble recovery, and Schoenherr finished with four tackles. Ethan Orr had a sack.

     The Eagles (1-0) will play host to Meskwaki Aug. 24.