The Iola Mustangs made Homecoming a bit sweeter after defeating the Anderson County Bulldogs 32-27 for their first victory of the 2025 season.
Aside from 2024’s forfeit by Oswatomie, who did not field a football team last season, the Mustangs were nearly a year removed from their last win until Friday.
“It was a big win for the program, and the kids built a lot of confidence,” Iola coach David Daugharthy said. “Although it didn’t go the way we wanted it to early, we have a lot of positives to take from tonight. It felt good to finally put it all together and execute a game plan.”
Sophomore running back Reed Clift accounted for four of Iola’s five touchdowns, rushing for 145 yards and three touchdowns and catching another.
Although the Mustangs picked up most of their yardage on the ground, Iola took an early 6-0 lead on a 63-yard fly route to junior receiver Roy Gordon from junior quarterback Kale Pratt, who had two touchdowns while passing for 148 yards.
“I read the safety, and no one was on him,” Pratt said. “He was wide open, and I knew Roy could catch the football. He got a touchdown, and that’s what got us going.”
Pratt’s arm and abilities as a dual-threat quarterback kept Anderson County’s linebackers honest as the Mustangs’ ground game went to work. The Bulldogs briefly had a 7-6 advantage after senior quarterback Landon Schillig found senior receiver Christian Barnett on a 32-yard route for a touchdown. But the Mustangs responded quickly, as Pratt led Iola on a 64-yard drive capped off by a 2-yard Clift touchdown run.
“The O-line opened the holes and gave me opportunities to go out and run hard,” Clift said. “That’s all I try to do. We stopped the run at the start and made a statement. The passing, that’s going to come, and we’re going to improve on that. I felt that overall we played a really aggressive, solid game.”
With Iola leading 20-7 going into halftime, Anderson County tried to catch up in the third quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run by senior running back Aidan Steele. The Mustangs responded with a pair of Clift touchdowns. The first was on a 10-yard flare route on a Pratt pass and the second on a 10-yard run with 2:37 left in the third quarter. The second came on a 1-yard run with 5:09 left in the fourth.
“Winning at Homecoming is special,” Clift said. “We didn’t do it last year, my freshman year, but I’m going to remember this one. It’s going to be nice.”
With the win, the Mustangs improved to 1-3 and 1-2 in Pioneer League play. They will step out of the Pioneer League next Friday to face the Girard Trojans (2-2, 1-2). Like the Mustangs, the Trojans had a tough early schedule with a loss to undefeated St. Mary’s Colgan, followed by victories over Riverton and Baxter Springs, before falling to Frontenac (3-1, 3-1) last Friday 35-7.
“This is a huge win. We just needed to get a win to get the monkey off our back,” Daugharthy said. “I’ve been talking all year. We’re just on the verge of breaking through, and I still think we’re just seeing glimpses.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
