The Iola Middle School football teams dominated Burlington on Thursday at home taking 38-12 and 32-0 victories.
Eighth grade
The eighth grade Mustangs scored 32 first half points.
Iola scored three touchdowns on the ground. Kale Pratt led the way, rushing in all three scores for a total 137 rushing yards in the win. The touchdown rushes came from seven, five and nine yards out to put the Mustangs ahead.
“It was a good win against a tough Burlington squad. I thought all-around we saw improvements on both sides of the ball. The boys came out fired up, shutting them out the first half,” said Iola head coach Scott Ellis.
Jase Herrmann also ran the ball well, going for 58 rushing yards.
Austin Crooks started the game under center for the Mustangs and threw one touchdown pass to Herrmann on a big 37-yard gain. Crooks passed for a total of 50 yards with a pair of 10-yard touchdown passes as well.
Pratt also scored on an interception defensively late in the second half to put the game away.
“Our defense was aggressive and executed well against a team that threw several formations against us,” Ellis said. “It was a great win overall with total team effort.”
Defensively, Pratt led the way with his interception for a touchdown and six total tackles. Franklin Kerr followed suit with four tackles while Broderick Peters and Xander Brackett made three tackles apiece.
Layton Stowell also scooped up a fumble recovery along with his one tackle.
Seventh grade
The seventh grade Iola football team shut out Burlington in a 32-0 drubbing. The Mustangs scored 24 of their 32 points in the first half while also coming out of the gate strong.
Reginald Davis III led the way running the ball with two touchdowns on 154 rushing yards. The pair of touchdown runs came on snaps from 83 and 71 yards out for monstrous touchdown scores.
“Offensively, Davis carried us rushing 154 yards and making some big runs. There was positive execution by all the boys. It was a great win for us,” Ellis said.
Reed Clift also punched in a touchdown from seven yards out while going for 19 total rushing yards. Kevon Loving ran the ball for 46 yards while Noah Anderson went for 11 rushing yards.
Clift started at quarterback and threw one touchdown on a 68-yard bomb to Davis III. The quarterback threw for 87 total passing yards but also served up an interception to the Burlington defense.
Davis III hauled in the lone touchdown reception for 68 yards and hauled in 82 total receiving yards. Anderson caught a nine-yard pass for the only other reception of the ballgame.
