Attention now turns to getting a victory on the final night of the 2011 football season for Iola High’s Mustangs.
Anderson County High’s Bulldogs pounded out the hopes of the Mustangs of making the Kansas Class 4A playoffs with a 62-30 win here Friday night. The Bulldogs used the one-two punch of seniors Thomas Mudd and Seth Bowman in a running game that amassed 467 yards.
“It stinks to lose. Everybody wants to get to the playoffs and we didn’t play well enough tonight to have that opportunity,” said Rick Horton, Mustang head coach.
“We told the guys that now we go out and get a win Thursday night. We work hard in practices and send our seniors out with a win.
“It’s important for our underclassmen to get a win next week to help go into the off-season.”
Iola (1-7) travels to LaCygne on Thursday for the season finale against Prairie View High’s Buffalos. The Buffalos lost 53-0 to Fort Scott Friday in 4A District 6 play.
Anderson County scored on the third play of the game. It was through the air as Jack Rickabaugh found Mudd for a 52-yard scoring strike. It was 28-0 by the 10:06 mark of the second quarter.
The Mustangs finally broke through to score on an 11-play, 65-yard march. When Mason Coons connected with Jerrik Sigg for 14 yards an extra 15 yards were tacked on because of personal foul penalty against the Bulldogs.
Clint Heffern pulled in a six-yard pass from Coons on a critical fourth down play.
Sigg scored the first of his four touchdowns on the night. It was a six-yard run with 5:24 left to play in the second quarter.
Mudd fumbled the football after an 18-yard gain and Iola’s Eric Maxwell recovered the ball at the Anderson County 45-yard line.
Coons’ pass to Devon Conner was high and deflected over a Bulldog defender right into the hands of Corey Taylor. It was good for a 30-yard gain. Coons hooked up with Sigg for a 14-yard touchdown pass and the two-point conversion.
Iola trailed 28-14.
Mudd fumbled again and Iola’s John Whitworth recovered but the Mustangs couldn’t take advantage and punted with 1:38 left in the half.
That was enough time for the Bulldogs.
Three passing plays and the Bulldogs scored again. They were up 34-14 at halftime. They only scored twice in the third quarter but the big blow was a 99-yard romp by Bowman with 1:05 left in the period.
“We didn’t block or tackle tonight,” Horton said. “The plays were there for our wildcat offense but we weren’t blocking anyone.”
Sigg did rush for 120 yards on 23 carries and had touchdown runs of 31 yards and three yards in the fourth quarter to up his season totals. The senior tailback had 938 yards rushing this season and has scored 134 points.
Coons was 13 of 26 for 135 yards passing. Sigg caught seven passes for 51 yards. Clint Heffern had five catches for 44 yards.
Sigg also led the Mustang defense with nine solo tackles and six assisted tackles. Zach Crawford made four unassisted tackles and six assisted while Clint Heffern had three solo stops and six assisted tackles.
Whitworth recovered two fumbles while, Maxwell and Clint Heffern each had one recovery.
Rickabaugh was perfect passing, completing 5 of 5 for 146 yards. Mudd caught tow for 85 yards.
Mudd rushed for 208 yards on 20 carries with two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Bowman had 176 yards on 12 carries with three touchdowns for the Bulldogs.
Andeson County’s Braden Weber and Mudd along with Iola’s Jacob Rhoads were ejected from the game in two different incidents.
Iola 0-14-0-16-30
Anderson County 20-14-14-14-62
AC – Mudd 52 yd pass from Rickabaugh (Hermreck run)
AC – Mudd 49 yd run (run failed)
AC – Bowman 1 yd run ( run failed)
AC – Bowman 6 yd run (Mudd run)
Iola – Sigg 6 yd run (pass failed)
Iola – Sigg 14 yd pass from Coons (Sigg pass from Coons)
AC – Tastove 7 yd pass from Rickabaugh (run failed)
AC – Mudd 37 yd run (pass failed)
AC – Bowman 99 yd run (Gilbreth run)
Iola – Sigg 31 yd run (Sigg pass from Coons)
AC – Jumet 4 yd run (Tastove pass from Rickabaugh)
Iola – Sigg 3 yd run (Cl. Heffern pass from Coons)
AC – Hilliard 15 yd run (pass failed)
Iola ACHS
First Downs 10 15
Rushes-yds 32-115 48-467
Passing yds 149 146
Total Offense 264 613
Passing 14-28-0 5-5-0
Fumbles-lost 3/1 5/4
Punts-Avg. 4-33.5 0-0
Penalties-yds 4-30 9-85
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Iola-Sigg 23-120, Coons 6-(-11), Whitworth 1-(-1), Rhoads 1-3, Conner 1-4. ACHS-Mudd 20-208, Bowman 12-176, Jumet 5-18, Rickabaugh 2-3, Hermreck 2-12, Hedges 4-35, Hilliard 2-15
Passing: Iola-Coons 13-26-135-0, Sigg 1-2-14. ACHS-Rickabaugh 5-5-146-0.
Receiving: Iola-Sigg 7-51, Cl. Heffern 5-44, Conner 1-43, Taylor 1-30, Rhoads 1-14. ACHS-Mudd 2-85, Jumet 1-25, Tastove 2-36.
Punting: Iola-Conner 4-134 yds (33.5 avg.). ACHS – none.
