GARNETT — After getting his finger stepped on in the early goings of Iola High’s showdown with Anderson County Friday, Iola High quarterback Tre Wilson found it increasingly difficult to put much zip in his passes.
His legs were working just fine, however.
The Mustang junior rushed for 249 yards and four touchdowns, as Iola overcame a laundry basket full of penalty flags to defeat host Anderson County, 25-18.
The win improves Iola to 3-1 on the season. More importantly, Iola opens Class 3A, District 2 with a 1-0 mark.
The game wasn’t secured until Iola’s Cortland Carson intercepted Anderson County quarterback Landon Schillig’s desperation heave into the end zone on the game’s final play, after Wilson had turned a tenuous 19-18 lead into a seven-point cushion late in the fourth quarter with his fourth score of the day, a 12-yard run.
It also was Wilson who opened things with a 65-yard touchdown run on the third play from scrimmage.
In between, he scored from 15 yards out midway through the second quarter as Iola took a 13-12 lead into the intermission.
Then, Wilson picked off a Schillig pass deep in Iola territory as the Bulldogs threatened to take the lead on the first drive of the second half. His run back was nullified because of a holding penalty — more on that later — which meant Iola started its subsequent drive at its 2-yard line. A false start to start on the next play pushed it back to the 1.
But Anderson County committed a costly personal foul penalty that moved the ball out to the 16-yard line. Two plays later, Wilson kept the ball as he veered past a couple of would-be tacklers, and suddenly had a step on everyone else on the defense. He streaked down the left sideline for a 79-yard touchdown run to push Iola ahead 19-12.
But a pair of Iola personal foul penalties on Anderson County’s next possession led to Schillig’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Steele on fourth-and-5 with 4:25 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs thought they had taken the lead when Camryn Wilson barrelled into the end zone on the 2-point attempt, but the play was nullified because of a holding penalty. The subsequent try from the 13-yard line went nowhere, and Iola retained the 19-18 lead.
The game took on a surreal atmosphere down the stretch.
Iola lost the ball on downs on its next possession, but the Mustangs’ Kale Pratt snuffed the Bulldogs’ subsequent drive with an interception.
But the Mustangs could not capitalize on the prime field position, and a fourth-down halfback option pass from Carson fell incomplete, giving the ball back to Anderson County. The Mustang defense held true, and forced a three-and-out, giving the ball back to Iola early in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Austin Crooks, who split time under center with Wilson, found Nick Bauer on a long pass play to put Iola back in scoring range.
But a critical non-call on a pass from Crooks to Easton Weseloh on second down changed the tone once again.
