The Mustangs were in a great spot to secure the district title on Thursday night at home.
Iola junior cornerback Isaac Vink intercepted a pass from Girard do-it-all quarterback Eric Wilson and sprinted back 30-plus yards for a touchdown to give his team a 25-24 lead with 11:03 to go in the fourth quarter.
“It was amazing,” Iola coach Doug Kerr said. “We set it up. He did a great job of understanding coaching and made a great break on it.”
The Mustangs not only seized the lead with that play, but they also made it so Girard would have to score twice to take the district title from them.
With Burlington beating Anderson County, Iola needed to avoid losing by more than 11 points to secure the league title based on point differential. A win would give them the outright title and cause Girard to miss the playoffs.
This certainly gave Girard plenty of reason for urgency on their next series. After two short runs to begin the drive, Wilson got loose for a nine-yard gain.
On the next play, running back Isaiah Fisher danced his way to eight yards. Fisher’s run on the next play picked up a first down and the Trojans were rolling.
A four-yard gain followed for Fisher, before Wilson broke a touchdown run on second-and-six. The play was called back on an illegal block, however, and the Mustangs had another chance.
Girard didn’t mess around. With their season on the line, the Trojans called a double-move for senior receiver Shane Redfern and Wilson hit him in stride for a 27-yard touchdown to put the Trojans back in front.
“We gave up big plays that we hadn’t been (giving up) the last three weeks,” Kerr said.
Iola stuffed the ensuing run for the two-point conversion and the Girard lead stayed at 30-25 with 7:12 remaining.
A touchdown drive by Iola would deliver the district championship they sought and they wouldn’t have to even worry about a potential tiebreaker scenario.
The Mustang offense had consistently moved the ball throughout the night behind the strong play of quarterback Ben Cooper, who entered the drive completing 7 of 11 passes and throwing for 110 yards. Sophomore tailback Tayton Driskel had also been having a strong game. Despite only having 13 carries in the game going into the drive, Driskel had 77 yards and a touchdown already.
“We were out-executing them in the first half,” Kerr said. “They made some adjustments and we had a bad turnover which led to a short score.”
That turnover was a Driskel fumble early in the second half with Iola leading 19-16.
