PARSONS — Back-to-back plays put Iola High’s Mustangs behind the eight-ball Friday night. Despite scoring the first touchdown of the game, the Mustangs ended up losing 57-32 against Parsons High’s Vikings.
Both teams were stopped on their initial drives of the Southeast Kansas game.
Jerrik Sigg, senior tailback, was the workhorse for the Mustangs. He finished off a 59-yard march with a two-yard touchdown run at the 6:13 mark of the first quarter.
Sigg had a 26-yard run to open the drive. Junior quarterback Mason Coons made connections of 10 yards and 22 yards to sophomore Jacob Rhoads and Sigg, respectively, in the drive.
“The key play in my mind was the 85-yard kickoff return right after we scored,” said Rick Horton, Mustang head coach. “Our kids’ head went down. We lost our confidence that we had come out with to start the game.”
Tevin Johnson ripped off the kickoff return for the Vikings. Wes Krull kicked the extra point for a 7-6 lead.
Then came the back-breaker. On third down of Iola’s next possession, Coons’ pass was picked off by Thatcher Murdock. Murdock returned the interception 30 yards for a touchdown.
The flood gates opened. Iola was down 25-6 by the end of the first quarter. Parsons (2-0) added two more scores in the first six minutes of the second period.
Johnson had just gone 85 yards on a running play to put Parsons up 38-6. Sigg snapped off an 85-yard kickoff return for the Mustangs. A two-point conversion pass failed leaving it 38-12 with 6:16 left to play.
The Vikings weren’t through in the first half. James Jackson scored twice on a four-yard run and a 44-yard run.
“At halftime, we told our kids we had to fight through the injuries and adversity. We needed to go out and win the second half and walk out of here with our heads up,” Horton said.
Iola had starting left guard senior Brad Bazo go out in the first half with a concussion. Rhoads was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury.
Horton said he was pleased with the way the Mustangs kept playing hard in the second half. Iola outscored Parsons 20-6 in the second half.
Only one other Mustang player had any rushing yards. Coons was 5 for minus-38, most coming on quarterback sacks.
Sigg rolled up 239 yards on 26 carries for Iola. He scored four rushing touchdowns to go along with the kickoff return for a touchdown. He had one reception for 22 yards and gained 198 yards on six kickoff returns.
“Jerrik is a good kid and runs the ball hard. In the past, we tried to hide him on some plays and use him as a decoy. Tonight, we through all of that out and just kept giving the ball to him,” Horton said.
Sigg had a 29-yard run with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
Junior Eric Heffern recovered a Parsons’ fumble with 11:08 in the game. The Mustangs started at the Parsons 48-yard line.
It took two plays — runs by Sigg – to reach the end zone. He had a 36-yard dash for paydirt that made it 57-24 with 9:35 to play.
Iola forced the Vikings to punt for the first time as time ticked off. The teams played the fourth quarter under the running-clock rule.
In the final scoring drive of the game, Sigg gained five yards on the first play then had a 53-yard run to the Viking two-yard line. He went right up the middle for the final two yards.
Coons got the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion run.
Iola is 0-2 on the season and in SEK play. The Mustangs’ losing streak reached 13 on Friday.
“We’ll have to take Monday and see who is healthy. Now, we have four starters injured. We’re hoping to have Brad and Trey (Colborn, who is out with a concussion also) back and Jacob. We know we won’t have Stephen (McDonald, knee injury),” Horton said.
“We have to have our younger guys step up. We did play a lot more of the younger kids in the second half tonight. They did a good job out there.”
Iola hosts Coffeyville in SEK play next Friday.
Coons was 4 of 21 passing for 44 yards. Corey Taylor and Clint Heffern each had a six-yard reception.
Devon Conner handle several bad snaps as Iola’s punter. He punted six times for 171 yards, which is a 28.5 -yard average.
Iola’s defense was led by Sigg with four unassisted tackles and two assisted tackles. Derrick Weir recorded three solo stops and three assisted tackles. Tyler Clubine had three solo stops and Devon Burton had three unassisted tackles and one assist.
Zach Crawford and Kaden Macha each had two solo stops.
Iola 6-6-6-14—32
Parsons 25-26-6-0—57
Iola — Sigg 2 yd run (kick failed)
Parsons — Johnson 85-yd kickoff return (Krull kick)
Parsons — T. Murdock 30-yd interception return (kick failed)
Parsons — Krull 60 yd pass from Beachner (pass failed)
Parsons — Johnson 60 yd run (kick failed)
Parsons — Kelly 38 yd pass from Beachner (Krull kick)
Parsons — Johnson 85 yd run (Krull kick)
Iola — Sigg 85 yd kickoff return (pass failed)
Parsons — Jackson 4 yd run (kick failed)
Parsons — Jakcson 44 yd run (Krull kick)
Parsons Collisn 25 yd run (kick failed)
Iola — Sigg 29 yd run (pass failed)
Iola — Sigg 36 yd run (run failed)
Iola — Sigg 2 yd run (Coons run)
Iola Parsons
First downs 5 8
Rushes-yds 32-204 39-290
Passing yds 44 98
Total Offense 248 388
Passing 4-22-1 2-2-0
Fumbles-lost 3/0 2/1
Punts-Avg. 6-28.5 1-22
Penalties-yds 5-30 6-40
