Iola High’s Mustangs made improvements from a week ago, but not enough to match up with one of the elite teams Kansas high school football has to offer.
Santa Fe Trail beat Iola, 46-10.
The Chargers took it to the Mustang defense by pounding 4A’s leading rusher Peyton Newton at the middle of the Mustang defense over and over.
“It was losing battles at the point of attack… They outmuscled us,” Iola coach Doug Kerr said. “Good football teams beat people that they are better than and they do this every week. We thought we could stop them and we didn’t. We failed.”
When Newton got tired they hit the Mustangs with sweeps to Gage Greenfield and Carter Greenfield.
All of the above was working as the Chargers’ big offensive line leaned on the Mustangs’ front line and when they got space the Santa Fe Trail running backs knew what to do with the ball.
“We want to be them,” Kerr said. “We want physical and strong. We want to pound people and do whatever we want. On defense, we want to smash people up front and not give up any running lanes. We want to be them and we need to work to get there.”
Even when the Chargers weren’t breaking long runs, they consistently picked up four or five yards a carry.
The Mustang offense saw a major improvement from a week ago, when it took them until the closing moments of their game in Wellsville to record a first down.
Kerr and the Mustangs opened the game against the Chargers in the hurry-up offense and it seemed to catch the Chargers off rhythm and get the Mustangs going early.
Standout sophomore tailback Tayton Driskel opened the game with a 9-yard carry. Quarterback Ben Cooper got his team back to the line quickly and hit fellow-senior Joey Zimmerman for a 13-yard gain.
The drive bogged down in Charger territory and they gave the ball to the Chargers. Gage Greenfield busted loose on a sweep play for 40 yards to set up a 20-yard touchdown run by Newton.
“The kids weren’t satisfied with last week’s performance and they came out and worked hard, but they are ranked in the top-three in the state for a reason,” Kerr said. “They do this to everyone, it doesn’t matter what the jersey says on the other side.”
Iola’s next drive was a 13-play drive that included a 40-yard run from senior Ethan Scheibmeir, but the drive again bogged down as the team entered the red zone and the Mustangs settled for a 26-yard Braden Plumlee field goal to cut the lead to 6-3.
That was the closest Iola would get to the Chargers.
A 10-yard touchdown run from Gage Greenfield added to the lead and made it 12-3.
