Mustangs have few answers for Buffalo run game

For the second straight week, Prairie View controlled the action with its vaunted run game against Iola. And like the regular season finale, the Buffalos cruised to a victory, this time to end Iola's season in the Class 3A playoffs.

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November 4, 2024 - 2:21 PM

Iola High's Grady Dougherty (77), Jordy Kaufman (21), Easton Weseloh (5) and Cortland Carson (13) block for teammate Tre Wilson Friday against Prairie View. Photo by Richard Luken / Iola Register

LA CYGNE — Prairie View High’s Buffalos stuck to the ground Friday, and in so doing, put a painful end to Iola High’s football season.

Prairie View racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense without attempting a pass, churning out a 49-14 Class 3A playoff victory over the Mustangs.

Iola finishes the year with a 4-5 record. Prairie View (7-2) advances to take on Columbus, a 21-0 winner over Parsons.

Iola High’s Austin Crooks (1) runs away from a pair of Prairie View defenders on a 47-yard touchdown catch Friday.Photo by Richard Luken / Iola Register

“They are very physical,” Iola head coach Dana Daugharthy said. “We knew that going in.”

And while Iola was closer to getting stops than they were a week earlier in the regular season finale against this same Buffalo team, an inability to prevent third- and fourth-down conversions kept Iola’s defense on the field for extended periods.

“We had a lot of opportunities,” Daugharthy said. “We just couldn’t finish it.”

Prairie View’s Parker Schwarz, one of the top running backs in the state at any level, got things started with  52- and 69-yard scoring runs in the first half. He wound up with 211 rushing yards, all but 18 coming in the first two quarters.

Iola got on the board early in the second quarter with a 53-yard bomb from Kale Pratt to Austin Crooks, pulling Iola to within 13-7 in the second quarter. 

The Buffalos responded with a pair of haymakers. 

Buffalo quarterback Wyatt Attebery opened the Buffalos’ next drive with a 36-yard run, setting up Josh Godwin’s 3-yard score a short while later. Iola went three-and-out before Schwarz ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run, putting Iola behind, 27-7.

THE MUSTANGS responded with a scoring drive late in the half, moving 87 yards in a little over 2 minutes. Tre Wilson found Pratt for an 11-gainer before connecting twice in a row with Cortland Carson on passes of 22 and 16 yards. Wilson kept things going with a 17-yard rush on third-and-10. An incompletion followed before Wilson scored on a 1-yard sneak with 3 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 27-14.

But the Buffalos opened the second half by recovering an onside kick, preventing Iola from maintaining its momentum.

Elijah Williams capped the 51-yard drive with an 8-yard run, making it 34-14.

Iola’s next drive ended when the Buffalos stopped Wilson on fourth and inches. Attebury capped the Buffalos’ subsequent drive with a 2-yard run.

Josh Godwin, who racked up six rushing touchdowns against Iola a week earlier, got back into the end zone to cap the Buffalos’ scoring with a 3-yard run in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

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