The outlook did not look bright for the Prairie Hawks when they trailed Muscatine, 41-21, at halftime Friday night at John Wall Field, but the Hawks were just getting warmed up.

Prairie scored 35 straight points in the second half and belted the Muskies, 56-41, in a wild Class 4A District 6 game.

Prairie climbed into a tie for third place in the district with Muscatine with 2-2 records. The Hawks are 3-5 overall heading into the final game of the regular season and the Muskies are 6-2.

Jalen Rima returned from a knee injury and had a big game for Prairie. He carried the ball six times for 172 yards, caught one pass for 70 yards and scored three touchdowns. His scoring plays covered 70, 55 and 94 yards.

Rima, who won the 200 and 400 meter dashes at the Class 4A state track meet last May, has scored 12 touchdowns this season.

"We used some running lanes to gain yardage and when Rima runs, no one can catch him in the state," Prairie coach Mark Bliss said. "I'm so proud of our kids. We utilized some sweeps that helped us offensively."

Hunter Johnson also enjoyed a big game for Prairie. He carried the ball 13 times for 160 yards and scored two touchdowns, including a 62-yard score that pulled Prairie within 41-35 in the third quarter.

Prairie quarterback Tyler Nunemaker tied the game, 41-41, with a 2-yard run in the third quarter and Joel Collett's PAT gave the Hawks a 42-41 edge.

Rima broke loose for a 94-yard run to make it 49-41 and Johnson finished the scoring with a 3-yard run. Collett booted eight straight PATs.

Nunemaker ran for 86 yards and completed all four of his passes for 128 yards. Prairie rolled up 518 yards on the ground and finished with 646 yards of total offense.

"I was extremely pleased with Jalen Rima, Hunter Johnson and Tyler Nunemaker is tonight's game," Bliss said. "They of course did most of the scoring, but they played excellent games as well."

PRAIRIE 56, MUSCATINE 41

.                          MUS         CRP

First downs                 7            11

Rushes-yards       31-113      47-518

Passing yards           316          128

Comp-Att-Int      16-33-2        4-4-0

Fumbles-lost             0-0           3-3

Punts-avg.            3-36.3      4-31.5

Penalties-yards           1-5         2-20

Muscatine 21 20 0 0 - 41

Prairie 14 7 21 14 - 56

Scoring plays

P - Jalen Rima 70 pass from Tyler Nunemaker (Joel Collett kick)

M - Jackson Foulk 1 run (Logan Nugent kick)

M - Alphonso Soko 54 pass from Luke Wichers (Nugent kick)

P - Rima 55 run (Collett kick)

M - Drew Greenhaw 24 pass from Wichers (Nugent kick)

M - David Summers 4 pass from Wichers (Nugent kick)

P - Nunemaker 17 run (Collett kick)

M - Kevin Johnson 3 run (kick failed)

M - Johnson 2 run (Nugent kick)

P - Nunemaker 35 run (Collett kick)

P - Hunter Johnson 62 run (Collett kick)

P - Nunemaker 2 run (Collett kick)

P - Rima 94 run (Collett kick)

P - Johnson 3 run (Collett kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing

Muscatine - Soko 6-21, Johnson 11-19, Wichers 5-15, Foulk 8-55.

Prairie - Rima 6-172, Johnson 13-160, Nunemaker 19-86.

Passing

Muscatine - Wichers 14-29-2; Foulk 2-4-0.

Prairie - Nunemaker 4-4-0, 128.

Receiving

Muscatine - Smith 1-5, Summers 1-13, Soko 1-54, Osland 2-76, Greenhaw 7-167.

Prairie - Rima 1-70, Meyer 1-51, Ealy 1-5, Johnson 1-2.