WELLSVILLE — Iola High’s Tre Wilson gave the Mustangs an early charge Friday, as he busted through a couple of would-be tacklers on the opening kickoff against Wellsville.
But that was where the fun stopped. The Mustangs lost seven yards on their first snap from scrimmage — a harbinger of things to come — and eventually wound up forced to punt.
Wellsville, playing very much the juggernaut on what was supposed to be a rebuilding season, had little issues offensively.
The Eagles marched 70 yards on 10 plays, capped by a Micah Holmes touchdown pass to Landon Geist from 8 yards out.
Wellsville never looked back from there, forcing three Iola turnovers, including a pair of interception returns for touchdown, and cruised to a 48-0 win.
The loss drops Iola to 1-1 on the season. Wellsville improves to 2-0.
“We didn’t execute very well,” Mustang head coach David Daugharthy said. “It’s a definite learning experience. It’s an opportunity for our kids to grow from this.”
Wellsville’s defense forced 16 plays in which Iola either lost yardage or failed to gain any ground.
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ passing game was laser-sharp, as signal-callers Micah Holmes and Pete Dorsey combined to go 9 of 11, covering 122 yards.
Payton Otwell’s 3-yd run pushed Wellsville’s lead to 13-0 early in the second quarter before an Eagle interception put Wellsville right back in scoring range. Kenyon Gillins scored from 8 yards out two plays later.
Gillins then picked off an Iola pass at the Mustang 40 and ran untouched to the end zone with less than 2 minutes left in the half to push the score to 27-0,
Armond Graves got into the act with a 6-yard run in the third quarter before Otwell tacked on a 40-yard pick-six of his own to make it 41-0.
Dorsey’s 36-yard run midway through the fourth quarter capped the scoring.
“You could tell their defense was affecting our young quarterbacks,” Daugharthy said.
Iola was without the services of junior Jakolby Hill, injured in a Week 1 victory over Baldwin.
