The seventh-grade Ponies wasted no time jumping on the over-matched Burlington Bobcats on Monday at Riverside Park.
Iola’s Trenton Jones ran the game’s opening kickoff back for a touchdown. From then on Iola completely controlled the game.
“I’m happy with the way our team played all season,” Jones said. “We worked hard and I guess that is what it does for us. We had a winning season and now we can go home and celebrate.”
Iola took a 22-8 lead late in the second quarter on an eight-yard pass from T.J. Taylor to Rylan McVey.
Early in the second half, Burlington was able use a trick play to cut into the Iola advantage. Running back Isaac Dewitt threw the ball to Eric Pabon for a 47-yard touchdown and they got within 22-14.
The Ponies quickly turned the tables on the Bobcats with their own halfback pass on fourth-and-five when Jones was able to find Karson Sigg for a 23-yard gain, Iola’s longest pass of the game.
“I’m not much of a quarterback,” Jones said. “I rolled out and just saw him running down the field, I chucked it and hoped for the best.”
Jones lofted the pass with plenty of air under it to give Sigg a chance to make a play, but Sigg admitted afterward that he was afraid that there would also be time for a defender to make a play.
“I just was waiting for it to come down,” Sigg said. “I thought I was going to get smoked. I was kind of laughing when it was coming down, but I was able to catch it and run off.”
The play set up a two-yard touchdown run from Jones and the Iola lead was built up to 30-14 and they were able to run out the clock and escape with a victory.
Jones finished the game with 151 yards rushing and three total touchdowns, including his kickoff return.
The defense was led by Tyler Boeken with seven tackles and Adam Atwell finished with five tackles.
The win gives the Ponies a winning record for the season at 4-3.
“I think we could have been a little bit better,” Sigg said.
The team will have a chance to improve on that mark next season as eighth graders.
