LA CYGNE — Iola Middle School’s seventh-graders have been successful this season, but head coach Scott Ellis knew Thursday’s matchup at Prairie View was going to be a physical affair.
The Mustangs passed that challenge with flying colors, thumping Prairie View, 50-12.
Iola’s eighth-graders had a tougher go of it, falling to Prairie View, 42-6.
“Tonight was a good night for our seventh-graders,” Iola head coach Scott Ellis said. “It’s hard to tell by the score, but defensively we had to step up a notch.”
Axtin Chriestenson scored on runs of 44, 44 and 40 yards as he racked up 134 rushing yards on four carries.
Iola led 22-0 after one quarter, 28-6 at halftime and 42-6 by the end of the third period.
Milo Franklin added 90 yards and a touchdown on five carries.
Cade Curry, Ty Thomas and Austin Campbell each had one carry, and each took it to the end zone. Curry’s run covered 43 yards, Thomas went 24 yards and Campbell scored on an 8-yard jaunt.
Jaxen Mueller had 17 yards on his only carry of the game.
“We executed the offense well with some heavy lineman support,” Ellis said. “And it seems like every game we have a new defender leading with tackles. Tonight it was Kaiden Jones who played very aggressively.”
Jones had eight stops, followed close behind by Michael Hancock and Franklin with seven apiece. Mueller and Thomas both had six tackles.
“We met one of our goals so far, to have a winning season,” Ellis said, “which says a lot about this team’s hard work and commitment.”
IN THE eighth-grade matchup, Iola’s Braylon Keithly found Lucas Boeken for a 50-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
But Prairie View controlled the scoreboard from there, opening a 24-6 lead at halftime.
“Prairie View had our number,” Ellis said. “We played hard, but we just got a little down on ourselves early. We were up against a team who was very physical, and we were not able to match up.”
