A year ago Iola High’s Mustangs and Coffeyville’s Field Kindley High Golden Tornado were Southeast Kansas League opponents. Both teams were 0-2.
“We’re excited about Friday’s game with Iola. They are undefeated just like we are and we’ll be playing against a quality team this week,” said Marty Zogg, FKHS football head coach.
The Golden Tornado is 2-0, both SEK wins, and has outscored its opponents 83-6. Speed is the Golden Tornado’s best asset on both sides of the football.
“This game will be a great measuring stick for us. Coffeyville is the first game we have this year against a team Iola played last year,” said Doug Kerr, Mustang head coach. “Our guys have worked hard this week to focus on what we need to do against a ranked team.”
Coffeyville is ranked fifth in Kansas Class 4A by Topeka Capital Journal and is in the top 10 in the 4A rankings by Wichita Eagle.
The Golden Tornado has the second-leading scorer in the SEK in its backfield in 5-9, 175-pound senior tailback Wesley Collins. Collins has scored five touchdowns this season.
Junior quarterback Nathan Finley directs the Coffeyville offense. One of his top targets is 5-10, 150-pound junior wide receiver James Newton. Newton is the reigning Kansas Class 4A 100-meter champion.
“We have speed on the field on both sides of the football. Defensively, our two inside linebackers — Elijah Jones and Nick Wintjen — lead us in tackles. They fly around to the football,” said Zogg.
Kerr said after coaching in south Florida for years that he knows about speed on the opposing teams.
“The best thing about speed is to go right at it. We’re out this week to keep the ball out of the hands of their playmakers,” Kerr said. “Last week we quickened the pace offensively against Osawatomie.
“This week we’re going to slow the pace down. Shorten the game and focus on making drives, getting first downs. We want to win the field position battle.”
Zogg said for the Golden Tornado offensively, it wants to establish drives and be consistent. Coffeyville runs out of a I-formation on offense.
“The key is for us to stop Iola’s running game. We want to force them to throw the ball against us. That would play into our strength. We had five interceptions against Independence,” Zogg said.
“Iola has a new coach and presents us with new schemes to prepare for from their single-wing offense. They use lots of misdirection on offense.”
The Mustangs were rolled pretty handily last year by Coffeyville. The Golden Tornado beat Iola 71-28 and led 64-12 at halftime. It held Iola to two yards of rushing offense while piling up 348 yards.
