Mustangs rack up 48 points, earn first win of season

It took Iola High’s Mustangs a day longer than expected to end an extended winless streak at home.
They didn’t seem to mind.
The Mustangs, playing Saturday because passing storms prompted school officials to call off Friday’s home tilt against Labette County, took the early lead and never looked back.
Joey Zimmerman’s 80-yard interception return kick-started Iola to a 48-33 romp, giving the Mustangs their first win of the year, and their first home win since Oct. 31, 2013.
“If it took Saturday to (get a win), we’ll do it,” joked Iola head coach Doug Kerr. “I appreciate the kids getting through a tough situation of having to play on a Saturday night, and for the fans coming out, I hope they got a good show.”
Unlike their first two games — both losses, by a combined 58 points — Iola was able to limit its mistakes Saturday.
In fact, the Mustangs were the ones capitalizing on Labette County miscues, including three turnovers and five penalties.
“The kids, to be honest, I think were just tired of making mistakes,” Kerr said. “We had a great week of practice. The guys worked their tails off.”
The fun started four plays into the game, when Zimmerman stepped in front of a Logan Dean pass at the Mustang 20 . He broke free of a would-be tackler and raced 80 yards down the sideline for the score.
Iola’s offense picked up the baton from there.
After Labette County scored the equalizer, Ben Cooper found Keanan Badders on a 22-yard catch and run late in the quarter for a 14-7 lead.
The Mustang defense held at its 10 to thwart Labette County’s next possession, setting up a 15-play, 80-yard drive, culminating on Mason Key’s 22-yard field goal.
Labette County answered with Chance March’s 8-yard run, but the Mustangs played beat-the-clock over the last 2:09. Key’s 25-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the half put Iola in front 20-14.
A crucial roughing-the-punter penalty extended Iola’s first drive of the second half.
Cooper made the Grizzlies pay, lofting a short screen pass that Badders took 58 yards to paydirt.
“It really took the wind out of their sails,” Kerr said. “What’s crazy is their whole coaching staff was yelling ‘screen, screen, screen’” before the play.
“When he catches it, that kid plays with a different burst right now,” Kerr said of Badders. “We’re excited. He’s having a great senior year.”
The Grizzlies went three-and-out on their next possession, then snapped the ball over the punter’s head, setting Iola up at the Labette County 15.
Brice Aiello scored three plays later on a 9-yard run to push Iola’s lead to 34-14.
Another extended Iola drive led to Aiello’s 25-yard jaunt late in the third. Isaac Vink picked off another Dean pass 36 seconds later, leading to Aiello’s 12-yard touchdown with 11:26 left in the game, pushing the lead to 48-20.
The ending got a little sloppy. Iola fumbled on consecutive plays after the Grizzlies’ Isaiah McPherson scored on a 56-yard run for the Grizzlies. The second fumble was recovered by Labette County, leading to Dean’s 15-yard pass to Tyler Russell.
“I’m so proud of the kids for their character and their discipline to come back and win at home,” Kerr said. “We hadn’t won at home in a while, and it feels good. We have some good teams coming up, and this gives us so much momentum going into that.”
Iola rushed for 229 yards, with six different Mustangs getting carries — the first game all season Iola had its full stable of running backs.
“We had interceptions on defense,” Kerr said. “We had great plays on defense. We had breakdowns on defense, but we covered up for the breakdowns.”
Badders and Aiello proved a potent one-two punch. Badders racked up 171 yards of total offense — 109 receiving, 62 rushing — while Aiello rushed for 127 yards. Cooper hit 9 of 15 through the air, covering 173 yards.
Brett Taylor had seven unassisted and 11 total tackles. Chase Regehr had five solo and five assisted stops. Zimmerman, Vink and Aiello had interceptions. Gus Luedke and Nick Vaughn had quarterback sacks.
McPherson had 153 yards on the ground to pace Labette County. Dean went 18 of 36 through the year for 173 yards and three touchdowns, and the three picks. Dominic Johnson pulled in six passes for a team-high 95 yards.
Iola (1-2) travels to Osawatomie Friday.