Playoff football started early this year for the Middle Border Conference’s top teams.

The Prescott Cardinals should be ready for the post-season after finishing the regular season schedule against some of the state’s best squads. Prescott made a ferocious comeback in the second half Friday but lost its first game of the year, 41-30, at Baldwin-Woodville.

Baldwin-Woodville goes into Saint Croix Central for the final Middle Border game with a 6-0 record. Prescott hosts Ellsworth in what should be an epic battle in the Highway 10 rivalry. Both teams are sporting 5-1 conference records. The Cardinals are 6-1 overall, and Ellsworth is 5-2.

Against Baldwin-Woodville, the Blackhawks started strong, jumping out to a 20-0 halftime lead. The resilient Cardinals battled back the final two quarters.

“We wouldn’t give up,” Prescott coach Jordan Hansen said. “We hit some big time adversity in the first half, but our guys wouldn’t quit. To go down 20-0 at half, we went into halftime and we had to fix some mistakes. If we would have played two second halves, we would have been right there.”

Hansen thinks the loss leads to lessons for his team.

“You learn a lot more from a loss than you do wins. You don’t want to lose, but in the long run, it helps you,” he said.

Against Baldwin, Prescott faced adversity from the first snap as the host Blackhawks came up with a big sack and a tackle for loss in the backfield before forcing a fumble between the tackles. B-W scored with a short field, but Cardinal senior defensive tackle David Regnier blew up the two-point conversion attempt with a tackle for loss to hold the lead to six.

The Cardinals couldn't get any momentum on the following drive but after BW got back on offense, the Prescott defense swarmed a reverse pitch attempt and forced a fumble, recovered by the Blackhawks to force a third down with14 yards to go on their own 30 yard line. The yardage was too steep and forced a punt. The game remained a defensive battle for nearly the rest of the quarter before B-W chipped away down the field and finally punched it, converting a fourth down deep in the red zone before taking a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Blackhawks quickly scored six more points shortly into the second quarter, but both defenses tightened up for the remainder of the half. When B-W got the ball back, the Prescott defense took the field determined to turn the game around. After the Cardinal offense too it back over, Teddy Bernick looked for Kobe Russell deep on the right sideline. After nearly catching it over the defender, they dialed the same route up two plays later and Russell came down with the ball to move the sticks near the red zone. The Cardinals chipped away and on fourth and three, Bernick again hit Russell who faced two defenders standing at the first down marker. He lowered his shoulders and kept the chain gang moving in the right direction, but the Cardinals were unable to convert another fourth down at the 12-yard line. 

Prescott came out of halftime on fire, quickly putting together a drive that culminated on a one-yard touchdown run. Russell ran in the two-point conversion to trim the score to 20-8. The Cardinals leaned on Russell all game, and he picked up a second touchdown run – this time from three yards out later in the third. Unfortunately, both of those third quarter Cardinal scores were followed by B-W touchdowns. Prescott trailed 33-16 after the third quarter.

Prescott drew first blood in the fourth on a 12 -yard touchdown pass from Bernick to receiver Cole Platson. The Blackhawks countered with a score, but Russell kept the game exciting with an 89-yard kickoff return run with 4:46 left in the game.

Bernick converted on 12-25 passes for 200 yards, with no interceptions.

Four of those passes were to Russell for 58 yards. Will Packard caught two passes for 68 yards, and Platson collected two for 48 yards. Gavin Miller had a 15-yard catch, and Joaquin Magee and Ethan West also caught passes for the Cardinals.

Leading rusher for Prescott was Barrett Temmers, who carried the ball four times for 35 yards. West had six carries for 19 yards.

The Cardinals are looking forward to the Ellsworth test this week. Game time is 7 p.m. Friday.

It will be a nice playoff tune-up for both squads.

“They’re a good football team,” said Hansen. “They’re physical and well-coached. We’re going to have to be prepared. Having these games so close to the playoffs is a good thing. We haven’t made the playoffs in a while, so it’s nice to have these games.”

Prescott will find out its playoff opponent when brackets are revealed Saturday, Oct. 19. They also will find out if they’re in Division 4 or 5. Hansen said the Cardinals’ enrollment puts it on the cusp of the two divisions, so it depends on how many teams become playoff eligible.

“We’re playing meaningful football. One of our goals is to make a run in the playoffs,” said Hansen. “We’d like to win the conference. We haven’t won it since joining the conference. If not, we’ll take it one game at a time in the playoffs.”

For Prescott to earn a share of the Middle Border title, the Cardinals would need to beat Ellsworth and hope for 3-3 Saint Croix Central to pull off an upset of Baldwin-Woodville.

Prescott has made 12 football playoff appearance, last qualifying for the post-season in 2021.