The Iola Middle School Mustangs swept the Santa Fe Trail Chargers during their return to Mustangs Stadium at Riverside Park Tuesday.
Following the cancellation of last week’s game against Anderson County, the Mustangs returned to the gridiron for the first time in nearly two weeks and seemed to benefit from the rest as the eight-grade team blasted the Chargers 46-6 while the seventh-grade team edged Santa Fe Trail 8-6.
“They played well tonight. We started off a little slow but stepped on the throttle throughout,” Coach Scott Ellis said. “Points were spread around with good O-Line blocking. Defense only gave up 6- very proud of our team play.”
Iola seemed in a dogfight early after ending the first quarter ahead 8-6. They then scored 30 unanswered points in the second quarter for a 38-6 lead going into halftime. With a significant lead, Coach Ellis pumped the breaks and played his team more conservatively in the second half. However, that did not stop running back Milo Franklin from reaching paydirt on a 53-yard punt return. Franklin ended the evening with 105 yards rushing, and two touchdowns, on six carries. Axten Christensen had 31 yards rushing. Jaxon Mueller and Cade Curry picked up 22 yards, but Mueller also had a 17-yard touchdown run.
Mueller also had completed two passes for 59 yards and a touchdown, which included a 56-yard bomb to Christensen. Defensively, Curry had a team-leading five tackles, followed by Mueller, Kamdon Barnett and Ty Thomas with two each.
The seventh-grade team did not win by the same margin of victory as their eighth-grade counterparts but they didn’t need to thanks to a strong performance by the Iola defense.
“Santa Fe Trail is a good team with size. We battled and held the first half giving up no points.” Ellis said.
Ellis credited the defense for putting the Mustangs in position for the win. A 38-yard run by Greyson Skahan set Iola up at the Santa Fe Trail 6-yards line. From there, running back Matthew Hall punched it in. Skahan’s offensive impact did not end their as his punch in from the 2-yard line on the extra point attempt decided the contest as Iola won 8-6.
“Defense put us in position during the third quarter to punch one in on a Dive by Matthew Hall,” Coach Ellis said. “Skahan worked his tail off tonight running in the backfield which put us close to the goal line to get some points on the board.”
The Chargers put a bit of a shock in Iola after reaching the end zone halfway through the fourth quarter. However, on the ensuing 2-point conversion they could not punch through allowing Iola to keep the lead.
“Even though we gave up 6 we kept them from the 2-point conversion,” Ellis said.
I’m very proud of our defense and how they never gave in and made some huge stops forcing SFT to punt.”
The Mustangs return the gridiron Oct. 2, when they head on the road to play the Prairie View Buffalos. Seventh-grade kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. with the eighth-grade team to follow.
