Break out the sweet soda.

Cedar Rapids Prairie used its version of the "Orange Crush" defense Friday in shutting down Dubuque Wahlert, 27-0, at John Wall Field.

Prairie (2-3, 1-1) held the Golden Eagles to just nine first downs and 89 rushing yards while piling up 25 first downs and 307 yards on the ground themselves.

"I learned from my dad," Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey said. "Adjust to what our kids do best. This year we had an experienced line coming back. Control the ball more. I think we've done that."

Senior running back Mitchell Christensen rumbled for a career-best 222 yards on 28 carries and scored three times for the Prairie Hawks.

"My line did a great job," Christensen said. "I give all credit to them."

That O-line includes, from left tackle to right tackle -- Jesse Hynek, Joseph Landon and Jonah Manson, Matthew Jones, Bryce Meeker, and Christian Ohrt.

Coach Morrissey said fullback Tristan Beyer gets an assist. And as it ends up, Morrissey gets one, too.

"And at the beginning of the season, I had foot problems, and my confidence was pretty low," Christensen said. "Coach helped get my confidence up."

The Prairie Hawks were feeling a little beaten down overall following three straight losses -- even if they were to No. 1 Xavier, No. 3 Iowa City West and a 3-2 Kennedy squad that has only lost to Xavier and West.

"We played three pretty tough teams," Christensen said. "We were ready for a win. Ready to go out there and show everyone what we can do."

Wahlert (2-3, 0-2) was afraid it might get a restless Prairie team.

"We talked about that all week," Wahlert Coach Travis Zajac said. "We have to rise to the occasion; be poised. Prairie had a tough draw the first four games. We had a little trepidation."

On the first snap Jomaryon "JoJo" Simpson came off the edge and sacked Wahlert quarterback Daniel Broderick for a 16-yard loss.

"The tackle came up on me, I pulled him to the ground and got the sack," Simpson said. "A great tone-setter. And my teammates rallied around it.

"Today we played great; outstanding. Coverage was great."

Wahlert had 10 offensive plays net negative yardage, including a pair of sacks for Simpson and two by Jesse Hynek.

"Our defensive ends were incredible," Morrissey said, including Matthew Hilligas in his praise. "They set the edge for us and guys were able to run free.

"Defensively, we've really been improving. It was important to get a shutout here at home."

Wahlert got into the red zone just once. Down 27-0 in the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles drove to the Prairie 3, but a touchdown run by Colin Smith was called back on a holding call.

"They did a nice job of establishing the line of scrimmage," Zajac said. "They've got a lot of size up front and play well with their hands. It was hard for us to get anything going at the line of scrimmage."

Riley Hasken led Wahlert with 90 yards on 16 carries, including 39 yards on a big run in the fourth quarter.

Prairie scored on its first two offensive possessions of the game with long, clock-crunching drives. Each was capped off by a 1-yard run by Christensen.

"We had a lot of tough games, and we learned a lot from them," Christensen said. "We're ready to go for the rest of the season."

Prairie quarterback Trey Beckman was 7-for-13 passing for 80 yards, including a 10-yard scoring strike to Kentrel Smith in the third quarter.

Jesse Vizzini had a 39-yard punt return to set up the final Prairie score -- another TD run by Christensen.

"Anytime you can get push up front, it is a confidence-builder," Morrissey said. "It takes the pressure off the quarterback. I think that really helped us tonight."

Morrissey said the team, 1-3 coming into Friday, had to reflect on its early season losses this week.

"We could very easily be a 4-1 football team," Morrissey said. "We're not. We've got to play with a chip on our shoulder. That's the way it works."

The 2-3 Prairie Hawks are going to need that chip. They travel to 4-1 Cedar Falls on Friday.

"Every game from here on out, we take care of the next one," Morrissey said. "So far, so good. We've got a really good team next week. We've got to turn it around and be ready to go."

PRAIRIE 27, DUBUQUE WAHLERT 0

DW CRP
First downs              9             25
Rushes-yards         34-89       49-307
Passing yards           74           80
Comp-Att-Int       7-18-0      7-13-1
Fumbles-lost           1-0          2-2
Punts-avg.           7-36.0      2-31.5
Penalties-yards       3-20        1-15

Dubuque Wahlert    0  0  0  0  -  0
Prairie                  14  0  7  6  - 27

CRP - Mitchell Christensen 1 run (Sam Drysdale kick)
CRP - Christensen 1 run (Drysdale kick)
CRP - Kentrel Smith 10 pass from Trey Beckman (Drysdale kick)
CRP - Christensen 6 run (kick failed)

Individual Statistics

Rushing
Wahlert- Riley Hasken 16-90, Colin Smith 9-15, Daniel Broderick 9-(-16).
Prairie - Mitchell Christensen 28-222, Keegan Pinter 10-65, Trey Beckman 9-24, Team 2-(-4).

Passing
Wahlert - Daniel Broderick 7-18-74-0.
Prairie - Trey Beckman 7-13-80-1.

Receiving
Wahlert - Nathan Kroeger 4-51, Zachary Kapler 1-12, Colin Smith 1-10, Riley Hasken 1-1.
Prairie - Dylan Kuchemann 2-43, Connor Grade 2-13, Kentrel Smith 1-10, Jomaryon Simpson 1-9, Keagan Pinter 1-7.