It was a tale of two halves Friday evening.
With too many mistakes for head coach David Daugharthy’s liking, the Iola High coaching staff had a spirited halftime discussion about limiting penalties and being more assignment-sound on the football field.
In other words, the players “were definitely getting ripped,” Daugharthy said.
The motivation worked.
Iola, which trailed visiting Santa Fe Trail 6-0 at the break, emerged in the third quarter with a bit more pip in its step.
Junior quarterback Tre Wilson capped the opening drive of the second half with a blazing 52-yard touchdown run, followed by Kale Pratt’s extra-point kick to lead, 7-6.
Then, after a Charger punt, Iola took advantage of a 36-yard pass from Wilson to Cortland Carson and a 35-yard run from Easton Weseloh to set up Weseloh’s 5-yard touchdown run.
The Mustang defense took it from there, keeping Santa Fe Trail under wraps the rest of the way in a 13-6 victory.
“The first half was ugly,” Daugharthy agreed. “It was just a matter of cleaning things up, doing your job. We’d been preaching it, but it apparently wasn’t clear.
“But they saw what happens when they do their job and start executing a little better,” he continued. “Things started coming together.”
The biggest bugaboo was in the form of penalties.
Iola lost a first quarter touchdown pass from Wilson to Cortland Carson because of an illegal procedure penalty, and then turned the ball over on downs after Carson gained 16½ yards on a fourth-down scramble when he needed 17.
If there was a silver lining, it was that Santa Fe Trail was also scuffling with penalties in the first half.
But the visitors took advantage of Xavier Davis’s leaping catch of a 33-yard pass from Rigley Sleichter in the last 2 minutes of the first half. A questionable pass interference penalty followed on the Mustangs. The Chargers capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown run from Kane Tantaros with 16 seconds left in the half.
“We had a couple of tough calls, but I was glad the way they bounced back,” Daugharthy said. “They played really well. They were prepared. Guys were champing at the bit. We played with a lot of new kids tonight. I’m proud of the effort they put forth.”
