More accustomed to life on the offensive side of the field as Iola High’s starting quarterback, Tyler McIntosh was called upon by head coach Doug Kerr to suit up on defense Thursday evening. IT WAS anything but easy, even though Anderson County entered the game at 0-8.
The move paid off handsomely.
McIntosh ended his high school career with a pair of critical fourth-quarter interceptions, the last of which snuffed an Anderson County drive at the Iola 3 and less than 2 minutes left in the game. (Just how much time remained was anybody’s guess…we’ll get to that later).
The picks sealed a 20-12 victory for Iola over the Bulldogs, to secure Iola’s second straight Pioneer League championship.
While Iola will not advance to the postseason — a team’s district record, not its league mark, determines playoff berths — Thursday’s win was still noteworthy.
Iola has won a league title two years in a row for the first time since the 1980s. The victory also assured the Mustangs of their second straight winning season at 5-4. Technically, Iola ended Pioneer League play at 4-1 and tied with Wellsville. But the Mustangs get the title outright, courtesy of their 38-20 win over Wellsville Oct. 11.
“You could tell they really didn’t want to go 0-9,” Kerr said.
The game had a surreal atmosphere at times, and it had nothing to do with Halloween.
Torrential rains all week left the field a soggy mess and rendered the Riverside Park scoreboard clock useless. A referee kept the official time on the field and occasionally notified coaches of the time remaining.
“The field conditions were the same for everybody,” Kerr said. “We just never could get any momentum going. Anderson County did the same thing to us this year that they did last season in loading up the box to stop our run. We missed on a couple of pass plays that might have changed that.”
Instead, Iola slogged along on offense until the first big play of the night — Jesse Zimmerman’s blocked punt — gave the Mustangs possession at the Bulldog 21. Jacob Rhoads capped the ensuing drive with a 2-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
The score remained 7-0, and Iola’s drive late in the quarter appeared stalled, at fourth and long at the Bulldog 38. But McIntosh found Trent Latta over the middle for a touchdown to send the score at 14-0 at halftime.
It was also Iola’s last completed pass.
Anderson County emerged undaunted after halftime. The teams traded punts before the Bulldogs’ Eric Small picked off a McIntosh pass at midfield. Anderson County marched 57 yards on 11 plays, the last 26 coming on a fourth-and-16 pass from Zach Hilliard to Small.
“Then the yellow hankies started killing us,” Kerr said.
Off-setting penalties nullified a long McIntosh pass to Latta that would have put Iola at the Bulldog 2. The drive eventually ended on downs.
Then Hilliard and Small connected again from long range, covering 73 yards after an Iola defenders slipped and fell in coverage.
But as in the first Bulldog touchdown, Iola’s defense stiffened in the two-point conversion. Both times runs into the line were stuffed by the Mustangs.
“Those were big,” Kerr said. “It showed we were still focused.”
Iola still led 14-12, but still had troubles moving the ball.
That’s when McIntosh stepped up. He easily picked off a Hilliard’s pass after the defensive line forced an errant throw. He sidestepped a couple of would-be tacklers to advance to Anderson County’s 19.
Kaden Macha lined up at quarterback on the next three plays, covering 9, 5 and the final 5 for the touchdown.
An errant snap on the extra point meant Anderson County still was within one score at 20-12.
Hilliard rushed for a first down, then connected with Ryan Alley to put the Bulldogs at the Iola 21 with about 50 seconds remaining.
His final pass of the evening, however, was again a tad long because of the defensive rush by Iola’s linemen. McIntosh was positioned perfectly for the game-sealing interception, out-fighting Anderson County’s Jacob Rundle for the ball.
“It was nice to be on the other side of an interception for once,” McIntosh joked. “Even though we were struggling, the guys were still up. We knew we still had the lead. The guys kept their minds in the game.”
The Mustangs mustered only 154 yards of total offense. Rhoads rushed for 25 yards, Macha for 24. McIntosh completed 6 of 13 passes for 80 yards, one score and one interception. Latta had 37 yards on two catches. Zimmerman had a 26-yard reception, and Macha had one catch covering 13 yards.
John Whitworth, Iola’s leading rusher, was hobbled by a leg injury much of the game, and only recorded three carries, covering 16 yards.
Rhoads had seven tackles to pace the Iola defense, followed by Shane Walden with six and Macha with five. Derrick Weir added a sack.
The Mustangs ended the night with the traditional “carry off.” The Iola seniors were given piggy-back rides from underclassmen to the end zone, “so the last time they came off the field, it was on someone else’s back,” Kerr said.
“I’m proud of our seniors,” Kerr said, “I’m proud of our team. We hadn’t won two conference titles in a row since the 1980s. This was a good step forward.”
“We’re trying to build a tradition,” McIntosh said. “Now, it’s time to hand it off to next year’s team.”
By the numbers
Anderson Co. 0-0-6-6—12
Iola 7-7-0-6—20
Iola — Rhoads 2 yd run (Macias kick)
Iola — Latta 38 yd pass from McIntosh (Macias kick)
AC — Small 26 yd pass from Hilliard (run failed)
AC — Small 73 yd pass from Hilliard (run failed)
Iola — Macha 5 yd run (run failed)
AC Iola
First Downs 5 8
Rushes-yds 33-100 33-74
Passing yds 121 80
Total Offense 221 154
Passing 5-15-2 6-13-1
Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0
Punts/Avg 4/26* 3/42
Penalties 7-64 4-40
* Includes 1 block
Individual statistics
Rushing: Iola — Rhoads, 9-25; Macha, 5-24; Whitworth, 3-16; Walden, 2-6; Latta, 1-6; Kauth, 3-2; Aiello, 2-2; McIntosh, 6-0; Weir, 1-(minus-4). Anderson Co. — Koch, 11-62, Hilliard, 18-20; Rundle, 1-8; Emperley, 2-5; Ratliff, 1-5.
Passing: Iola — McIntosh, 6-13-80 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception. Anderson Co. — Hilliard, 5-15, 121 yards, 2 TDs, 2 interceptions.
Receiving: Iola — Latta, 2-37; Zimmerman, 1-26; Macha, 1-13; Kauth, 1-8; Rhoads, 1-6. Anderson Co. — Small, 2-99; Alley, 2-16; Koch, 1-5.
Tackling: Iola — Rhoads, 7; Macha, 5; Weir, 5; Maxwell, 4; Misenhelter, 3; Zimmerman, 3; McIntosh, 3; Conner, 2; Aiello, 2; Latta, 1; Hopkins, 1.
Mustangs fend off Bulldog challenge
