LA CYGNE — It’s the closest thing Kansas high school football has to a mulligan, and Iola High hopes to take full advantage.
The Mustangs dropped a 49-30 loss to Prairie View Friday to end the regular season at 4-4.
But because of the new playoff format for Class 3A this season — which uses district standings only to determine which teams advance to the postseason, and not the foundation for the playoff bracket — Iola will hold the 13th seed on the eastern side of the state.
That means an immediate rematch with the same Buffalos squad, which holds the No. 4 seed at 6-2. (Under the old format, Iola would have traveled to unbeaten Frontenac to open the postseason.)
“I consider this a weeklong halftime,” Mustang head coach David Daugharthy deadpanned.
With Iola’s seeding already locked in, and Prairie View’s the same, Daugharthy had a hunch they’d be seeing each other again to open the playoffs.
“We knew this might be the case, but we definitely wanted to try some things to get it on film and make adjustments,” he explained. “There are certain things we wanted to tweak to see how they reacted.”
What remains to be seen is how much the changes will affect Iola’s ability to contain the Buffalos’ vaunted ground game.
Unofficially, the Buffalos racked up 431 yards, led by its three-headed monster of Parker Schwarz, Joshua Godwin and Wyatt Attebery.
Godwin rushed for six touchdowns, scoring on runs of 2, 2, 4, 2, 1 and 43 yards, while his fellow running mate, Parker Schwarz, ran for 185 yards on 12 carries, breaking off four runs of 29 yards or longer.
Attebery, meanwhile, carried seven times for 69 yards and completed his only pass attempt of the night, a 20-yard connection with Schwarz.
THE TEAMS traded scores early, with Godwin getting things started with a 2-yard score early in the first quarter.
The Mustangs’ Tre Wilson found Cortland Carson open down the right sideline for a 77-yard touchdown on Iola’s next play from scrimmage to even the score at 7-7.
The Buffalos took advantage of a long kickoff return to set up shop at the Mustang 19. It took three plays before Godwin scored from 2 yards out for a 14-7 lead.
Iola responded in kind. Wilson found Carson for a 14-yard gain before the Mustangs’ Easton Weseloh broke off a 27-yard run to put Iola inside the Prairie View 10.
