Iola High’s junior varsity football team kept the home crowd on the edge of its seats to the bitter end Monday, but could not pull off a comeback victory for its efforts.
The Mustangs dropped a 22-20 decision to visiting Anderson County after the Bulldogs scored on a 2-yard touchdown with 2:15 left and then completed an unlikely 2-point pass — the ball was deflected by a Mustang defender before Anderson County’s Jorel Nicolas dove and snared it inches from the ground — to take a 22-20 lead.
Iola had two chances to come back, but an interception ended the first attempt, forcing Iola to use all of its timeouts on defense.
The Mustangs got the ball back on its own 25 with 21 seconds left.
Iola immediately picked up 24 yards on its next play, a pass from Mac Leonard to Korbin Cloud, who immediately lateraled the ball to Briggs Michael, who zipped down the sideline to midfield.
Leonard then keenly avoided having the clock run out as he was being sacked by lobbing the ball out of bounds as a fumble.
And Iola gained another reprieve on its next play when Leonard’s Hail Mary pass down the sideline fell incomplete as time ran out because Anderson County was flagged for roughing the passer.
That gave the Mustangs one final shot from the 35, but Leonard’s pass down the right sideline fell incomplete.
It was a fitting conclusion to a back-and-forth affair.
Landon Weide connected with Kyler Mittlemeier on a 65-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter for Iola, before Leonard found Cloud on a 27-yard touchdown pass midway through the second period to give the Mustagns a 14-8 lead.
The Bulldogs knotted the score at 14-14 before Leonard found Mittlemeier on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 8:52 left in the game to push Iola back on top, 20-14.
Iola’s varsity will get back into action next Monday after its game at Prairie View was pushed back because the Buffalos players will still be under quarantine orders on Friday.
Iola’s varsity has not played since winning at Wellsville Sept. 18.
