Mustangs lose to Burlington in heartbreaker

Trailing 24-21 to Burlington High with less than a minute to go in the game, Iola High’s football team had the ball on fourth and short at Wildcat 9. Kaden Macha took the ball on a quarterback keeper, diving through the offensive line. Burlington linebacker Maxx Serl was waiting, stopping him short of the first down.
“We had two shots to get a yard,” Mustang coach Doug Kerr said.
Before Macha’s fourth and short attempt, Brice Aiello failed to get a yard on third-and-1. “We put the ball in Brice and Kaden’s hands. Hats off to them, they stopped us when they needed to.”
Kerr said that the coaches thought about going for the tie with a field goal, but ultimately choose to go for the chance at winning the game. He said that they gave the ball to Kaden on fourth down because of how well he had run the ball earlier in the game. He accounted for all three of Iola’s touchdowns.
“He’s our senior,” Kerr said. “You’ve got to give it to your senior.”
With 45 seconds left, Iola still had all of its timeouts left. The Mustang defense held the Wildcats without a yard on their first two plays. But Burlington’s Kendall Jeffers dashed Iola’s chances of getting the ball back with an 11-yard first down run to seal the district win.

BACK IN the second quarter, Iola took an early lead after both teams defense’s kept the game scoreless in the first.
A 39-yard run by Aiello led to Macha’s first score from a yard out and a 7-0 Iola lead. A goal-line stand late in the half preserved the lead.
Burlington threatened to even the score once again after recovering a Mustang fumble late in the half.
The Wildcats’ Colby Johnson threw a Hail Mary to the end zone on the final play of the half. Aiello was there for the interception. He returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown, but a pair of holding penalties nullified the score.

THE MUSTANG offense started the second half on a roll. The big play came on a 19-yard pass from Macha to Keanen Badders on third and long. On the next series, Badders came up with a 3-yard run on fourth down to get the first. Macha later rushed for a 9-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
Burlington struck quickly, scoring on a 48-yard run on their third play in the drive. After the two-point conversion, Burlington cut the lead to 14-8.
Iola answered right back with a touchdown on its next drive. Macha’s 10-yard scoring pass to Shane Walden extended the Mustang lead to 21-8.
The game’s biggest momentum shift came on Burlington’s next drive. Facing fourth-and-7 on Iola’s 25, Burlington’s Johnson tossed a 10-yard pass to receiver Grant Shell, who took it the remaining 15 yards for the touchdown.
Then, the Wildcats caught a huge break on the extra point. The snap sailed over the holder to about 25-yard line. Burlington’s Cooper Whitworth landed on the ball and tossed it into the end zone, where it was caught by receiver Reid Williams for the unlikely two-point conversion. The Wildcats were within five, 21-16.
An interception on third-and-long ended Iola’s next drive.
Burlington’s Johnson scored on a 9-yard keeper. He then rushed in the two-point conversion to give the Wildcats the 24-21 lead, setting up the thrilling finale.

IOLA RACKED up 361 yards of offense. The ground game accounted for 244 yards on 41 carries — 5.9 yards per attempt. Aiello had 11 carries for a team-leading 110 yards. Macha had 12 carries go for 71 yards. Badders rushed for 51 yards on 11 carries and Ethan Scheibmeir ran the ball twice for 18.
Macha threw for 117 yards, completing 8-of-16 passes. Taylor led the team with four catches and 76 yards. Walden’s only catch was the 10-yard touchdown. Scheibmeir had a 15-yard catch and Badders had two catches for 18 yards.
The Mustangs (1-6) continue district play at Anderson County for a 7 p.m. kickoff next Friday.
“The district is still up for grabs,” Kerr said. “You can go 2-1 and still win the district. They’ve still got to play Girard. You can’t dwell on a loss.”