Things were going splendidly for Iola High’s Mustangs on Homecoming Night.
Until they weren’t.
The Mustangs controlled the first half against Girard, sprinkling in a number of key first downs on offense, opportunistic turnovers on defense, and even a special teams boost from sophomore kicker Kale Pratt to take a 17-6 lead into halftime.
But the Trojans flipped the script after intermission.
Girard’s Lemont Love scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 remaining was the difference in Girard’s 28-23 victory.
The loss drops the Mustangs to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in district play.
As is the case in such nailbiters, a couple of key plays made the difference.
The first came after the Trojans opened the second half with a long drive, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ben Cullen to Scott Moore to slice Iola’s lead to 17-14.
Moore then scooped up a fumble on Iola’s next drive and barreled his way to the Mustang 11. Aiden Ashbacher scored two plays later to give Girard its first lead of the night, 22-17.
Iola righted its ship after that, putting together a 78-yard drive, fueled by several tough runs from junior quarterback Tre Wilson and running back Easton Weseloh.
Wilson’s 15-yard throw to Jordy Kaufman late in the period gave Iola the lead once again, 23-22.
Things were looking even better when the Mustangs held on downs on Girard’s next possession. But the Trojans returned the favor, stuffing Wilson at the line of scrimmage on fourth and 1 with 9:14 left.
Love’s touchdown 4½ minutes later gave Girard the lead for good.
A personal foul call against the Trojans on the ensuing kickoff put Iola at midfield to start its possession. A third-down pass from Wilson to Konner Larney put Iola at the Trojan 36, but inches short of a first down. The Mustangs tried an out pass, but the ball was incomplete giving the Trojans the ball one final time. Girard picked up a pair of critical first downs as Iola exhausted its timeouts and ran out the clock.
“We just didn’t execute on fourth down,” Iola head coach David Daugharthy said. “We were inches away both times.”
