INDEPENDENCE — Facing a bigger — both in numbers and in size — opponent Thursday night, Iola Middle School’s eighth-grade football team came up with a season-opening victory.
Playing “iron-man” football, everybody playing both offense and defense, the Ponies beat Independence 20-14. The Ponies scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:20 left in the game.
Brett Taylor connected with Brice Aiello for a scoring pass play that covered 48 yards. The two-point conversion attempt failed.
Taylor then sealed the win with an interception of an Independence pass. It came on the first play of Independence’s possession after the kickoff.
“We had 11 players eligible for the ballgame and those kids played their hearts out against a very good Indy team,” said Marty Taylor, Iola head coach.
“We got a little tired in the third quarter but the kids sucked it up and won it in the fourth.”
Iola led 6-0 at halftime on a second quarter one-yard touchdown run by Aiello. Independence tied it up with 3:30 left in the third period. Both teams missed their two-point conversion attempts.
Aiello, who had 138 yards on 19 carries for the game, broke a 65-yard run off an option pitch. He tacked on the two extra points with a run.
Independence had a touchdown run and two-point conversion play as time ran out in the third quarter. It was 14-14 heading into the final period.
Taylor was 3 of 5 passing for 60 yards and rushed for 14 yards. Keanan Badders had 31 yards on 11 carries.
Badders had a reception for five yards. Gus Hopkins hauled in a pass for a seven-yard gain.
“Brice had a nice game in his first at tailback and Keanan absolutely destroyed some people from his fullback spot,” Taylor said.
“Defensively, Brett and Ethan Sigg did a great job on the backside. We have a long way to go to get where we need to be but it was a good way to start the season.”
Aiello had eight unassisted tackles and five assists and a quarterback sack. Badders had six solo stops and one assist. Jake Kress rang up four solo stops and three assisted tackles.
Taylor and Sigg each had five tackles while Daniel Ware and Dodger Beckham had four apiece. Gage Tomlinson had three tackles. Gus Hopkins and Nate Streeter had two each and Andrew Garber had one tackle.
Iola’s seventh-grade Ponies lost 34-6 to Independence. Iola got a touchdown with three minutes left in the game.
Garrett Wade pulled in a 20-yard scoring strike from Ben Cooper. Cooper was 3 of 7 passing for 38 yards. Chase Regehr caught two passes for 18 yards.
Seth Sanford rushed for 41 yards on 11 carries. Ethan Scheibmeir had 20 yards on six carries.
“Some first game jitters for these kids. They need to figure out the speed that the game is played at,” Taylor said. “We played much better in the second half and (we need to) build on that.”
Taylor said there were no defensive stats for the seventh-grade game because of film problems.
The IMS teams travel to Altamont next Thursday to play Labette County.
Ponies split on football openers
