The friendly confines of Iola’s Riverside Park were anything but Saturday for Iola High’s Mustangs.
In their first home game since Sept. 11, the Mustangs saw visiting Girard lead 14-0 after one quarter and 34-0 at the break.
A 35-yard touchdown pass from Bradyn Cole to TJ Taylor with just under 4 minutes left on the clock was the Mustangs’ only opportunity to dent the scoreboard in a 48-7 defeat.
The loss drops Iola to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in Class 3A district action.
“We’ve just gotta be better, gotta be more physical,” Iola head coach David Daugharthy said. “We’ve gotta execute. It’s hard to do that when you drop passes and miss tackles.
A steady rotation of Girard runners kept Iola at bay through the first two quarters.
Ethan Merrell scored twice for the Trojans in the first quarter.
The score was 20-0 before the Mustangs picked up their initial first down early in the second quarter, after Brett Willis put Iola in prime field position with a long kickoff return.
But an 8-yard loss on second down pushed Iola back to midfield, where the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs two plays later.
Subsequently, it took Girard two plays to score, with Luke Niggeman finding Mason Huebner on a 54-yard touchdown pass at the 8:45 mark of the quarter.
Girard then put together its longest drive of the game, covering 75 yards on 10 plays, capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by Alex Coester.
Iola’s scoring drive came with the Mustangs trailing 48-0 midway through the fourth quarter.
Cole completed three straight passes before his 35-yard scoring strike to Taylor for Taylor’s first touchdown of the season.
“There’s not a kid more deserving,” Daugharthy said of Taylor’s big play. “He’s a hard-working kid, who does everything you ask. He’s the type of kid to build a program around.”
The Mustangs will be back in action Friday at home against Burlington for Homecoming. It’s the first Friday evening contest for Iola — whose season has been upended with two games canceled, and two others pushed back because of COVID concerns — since Sept. 18.
