LA CYGNE — It only seemed like they were tackling actual buffaloes.
Iola High’s return to the gridiron — the Mustangs’ first game back from a three-week, COVID-19-related layoff — was painful in more ways than one Monday.
Host Prairie View ground out more than 230 yards rushing, and in so doing, controlled much of the action in a 42-7 win over the Mustangs.
The defeat drops Iola to 2-2 on the season, and 0-1 in Class 3A district play.
“They were just more physical than we were,” Iola head coach David Daugharthy said. “We didn’t match their physicality, and when you can’t tackle, it’s going to make for a long night.”
The night was made even longer with what could be a pair of significant injuries for the Mustangs as they return to the regular season grind.
Linemen Gage Turner and Aden Jones both left the game early in a brutal second half that saw Prairie View outscore Iola, 28-0, after intermission.
“Both of those guys are tough losses,” Daugharthy said. “Both are very valuable players.”
THE EARLY going was promising enough.
Iola seized the field position advantage after both teams punted on their opening possession, which led to Bradyn Cole’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett Herr-mann on fourth-and-goal midway through the first quarter.
Prairie View responded with a key fourth-down conversion of its own, when quarterback Damien Kline scrambled around the right end for a 14-yard gain on fourth-and-10. Otis Jacobs scored a 2-yard touchdown on the next play.
The Mustangs fended off the Buffalos’ next scoring chance, recovering a fumble at the 4-yard-line, but a three-and-out put Prairie View back in scoring position in short order. Jacobs rushed four straight times, the last of which was a 9-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to give the Buffalos a 14-7 lead.
Iola came up dry on its next two possessions, despite being in scoring position in both.
Iola’s last, best chance to knot the score came in the waning seconds of the half, after Cole found Karson Sigg over the middle for a 21-yard strike, putting Iola at the Buffalo 14. Trent Jones ran to the 9 on the next play, but an incompletion, a 2-yard loss, and then a broken up pass in the end zone left Mustang fans screaming for a pass interference penalty that never came as Prairie View took possession.
Then came the second half, which started on an ominous note.
