A three-hour rain delay did little to douse the enthusiasm of a raucous crowd of Iola High supporters Friday evening at Riverside Park.
Chanute High’s Brock Gilmore and the Blue Comet defense took care of that.
Behind the aerial fireworks of the 6-4, 220-pound senior quarterback, Chanute raced to a 28-0 halftime lead en route to a 42-0 win.
The loss drops Iola to 5-2 on the season. More importantly, the Mustangs fall to 0-1 in Kansas Class 4A, District 6 play.
Iola has little time to mope. It hosts highly regarded Fort Scott next Friday in another district tilt.
Gilmore tossed first-half touchdowns covering 23 and 13 yards to Sebastian Fairchild — the second coming with no time left in the first half — and 33 yards to Derek Sharps to open the scoring early in the first quarter.
Iola lost three prime scoring chances. A slant pass from quarterback Mason Coons to Jacob Harrison bounced off Harrison’s fingertips while Harrison was clear in the Blue Comet secondary.
Then, on Chanute’s next drive, the Mustangs’ Levi Ashmore baited Gilmore into an ill-advised sideline pass that Ashmore let slip through his fingertips with a potential pick six eluding his grasp.
And finally, Iola’s final drive of the second quarter ended on a fourth-down pass bounced out of Harrison’s grasp as he rolled through the back of the end zone. Iola head coach Doug Kerr argued unsuccessfully Harrison had possession long enough for touchdown to count.
The misfire set up Chanute at its own 15-yard line. The Blue Comets marched 85 yards over the final two minutes, aided by a 25-yard pass from Gilmore to Abrom Weaver and a key fourth-down completion from Gilmore to Christian Wiltse.
“They’re a good football team,” Kerr said. “I’m proud of the guys. We made some adjustments and had a couple of scoring chances that we just missed. If it’s 21-14 at halftime, it’s a different ball game.”
Iola’s opening drive of the second half went much the same way as the first. The Mustangs reached scoring position, but a Mason pass into the end zone was intercepted by the Blue Comets’ Weaver.
Kerr noted much of the pre-game talk centered on Iola’s defection from the Southeast Kansas League to the Pioneer League — and presumably off of Chanute’s radar in the regular season — only to find the two schools tossed into the same football district.
“This game wasn’t about the Pioneer League, and it wasn’t about SEK,” Kerr said. “They’re just a good, senior-laden football team. We’re working toward that.”
Chanute extended the lead to 35-0 with a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ethin VanAnne late in the third quarter. Josh Smeed’s five-yard run to paydirt capped the Blue Comet scoring.
John Whitworth carried 14 times for 70 yards, while Coons had a negative-21 yards rushing,
many coming from sacks. Jacob Rhoads had 27 yards on six carries. Kaden Macha rushed 10 times for 20 yards. Adam Kauth had a twoyard carry. Ashmore’s only rush went for minus- four yards.Coons was 4 of 12 passing for 45 yards with an interception. Kauth had a 26-yard reception. Zeph Larney had one reception for 17
yards. Rhoads led the Iola defense with 10 tackles. Bryce Misenhelter, meanwhile, had six tackles, including three quarterback sacks. Eric Heffern and Derek Weir also had sacks for the Mustangs. Chanute 14-14-7-7—42 Iola 0-0-0-0—0 Chanute — Sharp 33 yd pass from Gilmore (PAT failed) Chanute — Fairchild 23 yd pass from Gilmore (Fairchild pass from Gilmore) Chanute — Kisser 5 yd run (LaRocca kick) Chanute — Fairchild 13 yd pass from Gilmore (LaRocca
kick) Chanute — VanAnne 55 yd punt return (LaRocca kick) Chanute — Smeed 5 yd run(LaRocca kick Chanute Iola First Downs 11 8 Rushes-yds 37-162 35-72 Passing yds 192 45 Total Offense 354 116 Passing 11-20-0 4-12-1 Fumbles 1-0 1-1 Punts-yds 3/26 6/32
Comets too much for Iola
