Osawatomie’s England runs wild in win over Mustangs

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Sports

September 25, 2015 - 12:00 AM

OSAWATOMIE — At the start of Iola’s 47-26 loss to Osawatomie, the Trojans sent over a gift that proved most cruel: Hope.
The present, wrapped in a Trojan horse of deceit, came when Brice Aiello’s 5-yard touchdown run gave the Mustangs a 7-0 lead just 2:48 into the game.
Iola’s methodical drive was convincing. For a team that struggled to move the ball consistently on the road two weeks ago, it was refreshing. And for coach Doug Kerr, whose lone desire was to get back to .500 on the season, it was encouraging.
And then, beneath the Trojan horse’s false promise of success, the Mustangs found reality.
“We really sold out at the line of scrimmage because we had to,” Kerr said. “The first drive we did. Then they made an adjustment, we countered with an adjustment and it didn’t work.”
Fifteen seconds after Iola found the end zone, Osawatomie followed suit with a 55-yard touchdown run by Riley England. Although the Trojans ended up missing the PAT to remain down 7-6, England wasn’t finished running all over Iola’s defense.
The Osawatomie senior running back racked up an astonishing 487 rushing yards on 18 carries and added six total touchdowns to help wear down an Iola defense that has already surrendered 164 points in just four games this year.
“(England) is a special back,” Kerr said. “We just could not get that stop to get them to second and long or third and long.”
The Mustangs never quite figured out the England enigma. Four of England’s six scoring runs went at least 55 yards.
So without a defensive answer for Osawatomie, Iola needed its offense to play like it did on its first drive of the game when it scored a touchdown. Unfortunately for Kerr, the offense was just as ineffective for most of the contest.
While England was helping his Trojans put up 26 points in the first half, the Mustangs could only muster one more score with 34 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Ben Cooper tossed a touchdown pass to Ethan Scheibmeir to cut Iola’s deficit down to 26-13 following a missed PAT. Once again, the score helped build hope for a Mustangs squad that needed it more than ever.
But just as they did earlier in the game, the Trojans bounced back quickly to extinguish the Mustangs’ wishful thinking.
Iola began the second half by marching down the field and picking up three straight first downs. However, Osawatomie’s Chaseton Wylie ruined Iola’s drive by intercepting a pass by Cooper with 10:46 left in the third quarter.
Kerr said that turnover along with the touchdown that followed about a minute later were the daggers for his team.
What was once a manageable two-possession game suddenly transformed into the nearly impossible task of coming back from a 33-13 deficit.
“At the high school level, that’s pretty tough to come back from,” Kerr said. “You start scoreboard watching, and that ankle starts hurting a little bit more.”
Still, Kerr added that his kids never stopped fighting. Iola’s offense was able to put together a string of successful drives late in the game, which was just a little too late to spark the team toward victory.
Keanen Badders added a 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Cooper tossed his second touchdown pass of the game with 4:56 left in the game when he found Brett Taylor for a 25-yard connection.
The Mustangs’ 26 points on the night were the second most this season behind last week’s 48-point performance in a win over Labette County.
But Iola’s porous defense prevented the offense from running its usual gameplan. The Mustangs’ up-tempo, high-speed offense was forced to try and slow the game down in order to prevent Osawatomie’s offense from taking the field.
The problem was that the Trojans really didn’t need that much time anyway to cause some damage. And it wasn’t like England was finding massive holes in Iola’s defense.
The Mustangs simply missed tackle after tackle, allowing England to slip and slither down the field with ease.
“It just comes down to desire,” Kerr said. “Do you want to bring that guy down on the ground? You can do all the form tackling you want, but you’re not going to have a form tackle in the game. What you’re going to have is an opportunity to put a guy on the ground and you’re either going to do it or not.”
Iola hosts Central Heights next week for its Homecoming game, and it appears as if the Vikings are just the right team for the Mustangs to get back on track.
In last year’s matchup between the two schools, Iola shut out Central Heights 34-0 on the road. Now Kerr and company get to return home and hope for a repeat of last season’s outcome.
“There’s still five ball games left and we have some win-able games left and we still have our district to play,” Kerr said. “We have a lot to build on for next week.”

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