The Iola Mustangs are in Baxter Springs Friday for one last game to wrap up the season.
The Mustangs were eliminated from playoff contention after the Prairie View Buffalos crushed Iola 52-20 last Friday.
“On the scoreboard, it was a blowout, but I was proud of how the kids played today,” Iola coach David Daugharthy said. “In the first half, if you take away 10 percent of their runs, we held them to probably 50 yards rushing, but that 10 percent was more than 200 yards rushing. Parker Schwarz is a tough runner, probably one of the best running backs in the state of Kansas.”
Schwarz rushed for more than 400 yards and five touchdowns.
The Mustangs held their own early, before Prairie View scored 40 unanswered points in the second, third and fourth quarters.
After allowing the Buffalos a touchdown on their opening drive, the Mustangs responded with a 9-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Reed Clift to junior running back Kale Pratt. On Iola’s next drive, after junior linebacker Roy Gordon recovered a fumble, Pratt found the end zone from 3 yards out.
“The kids were up to the task and they were not trying to back down,” Daugharthy said. “I felt like we were off on defense last week. Yeah, we gave up a lot of rushing yards, but I thought we were better than last week.”
Iola would not score again until the fourth quarter with 3:30 left in regulation, when Reed again found Pratt on a 12-yard TD pass, but by then Prairie View had long since pulled its starters while ahead by a 40-point margin.
“I was proud of how we came out. We just could not finish it,” Daugharthy said. “We’re not used to being in that spot but this is a good step for the program. This is a good football team and they’re going to remember how they performed. It’s something that’s going to build and hopefully, a year from now, we’re going to be the team other teams are talking about.”
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is at 6 p.m.
