Iola High wasn’t about to let a little Friday the 13th hijinx ruin its night.
Despite losing two early fumbles — both of which resulted in Prairie View touchdowns — the Mustangs were able to right their ship and control play from there on both sides of the ball.
Iola’s 33-18 victory has the Mustangs on the cusp of a potential district championship as well.
The victory means Iola (4-3 overall) ends the year with a 3-1 Class 3A, District 2 record. Their game next week against Santa Fe Trail is a non-district affair.
Whether Iola wins a district crown will depend on how Burlington (2-1) and Prairie View (2-1) fare next week in their respective games. If both teams win, it would create a three-way tie atop the standings with Iola, with point differential in district games the determining factor to who gets the title.
But that’s still next week’s concern, Iola High head coach David Daugharthy said, as his team basked in the glow of one of its most impressive games of the season.
“We had a lot of things go bad early with the fumbles,” Daugharthy said. “We could have easily fallen apart from that, which we’ve done in past years, but they’re different this year.”
Iola’s senior class led the way, none more so than tailback Ben Kerr.
Kerr rushed (unofficially) for 167 yards and two touchdowns while hauling in five catches for 68 yards and another score.
“Ben put us on his back and carried us,” Daugharthy said.
Meanwhile, Iola’s defense put the kibosh on Prairie View’s vaunted ground game. The Buffalos entered Friday averaging more than 350 rushing yards per contest.
Iola held Prairie View to less than half that mark until the game’s waning seconds. In fact, 75 of Prairie View’s 214 rushing yards came in the Buffalos’ final drive, with the game long since decided.
“It started with our line play,” Daugharthy said, “and our linebackers did a great job of playing downhill and getting to the ball.”
Iola forced four turnovers as well.
Prairie View led 12-6, with both scores following Iola turnovers to start the game.
But the Mustangs proved resilient.
Senior quarterback Landon Weide put Iola on the scoreboard with the Mustangs trailing 6-0 when he found a seam down the left sideline. He raced untouched 58 yards to knot the score.
Another Iola fumble and then Buffalo score put the Mustangs in arrears 12-6 after the first quarter before Iola embarked on a 13-play, 51-yard drive, twice converting on third-and-long and once on a fourth-down conversion to keep the drive alive.
Weide lofted a 6-yard touchdown pass to Cortland Carson, who was able to get his feet inbounds in the end zone to even the score.
Iola’s Briggs Michael, for the second game in a row, gave a spark on the defensive side by recovering a Buffalo fumble on Prairie View’s next possession.
