Bulldogs drop district opener

IOLA— The Iola Bulldogs (3-4) faced the Granger Lions in their first district match up ending with an unfortunate 34-6 loss.

In the first quarter, the Granger Lions scored the first touchdown of the game with a 7-yard run paired with an unsuccessful two-point conversion stopped by the Bulldog defense.

The Granger Lions carried their momentum into the second quarter with a successful 3-yard touchdown and punched in the conversion. Granger continued their offensive streak shortly after with another 25-yard touchdown. The kick was no good.

Nearing the end of the first half, the Bulldogs finally managed to catch the Lions by surprise on a 60-yard kickoff return by senior, Colton Boullion, bringing the score 20-6, Lions in the lead. “At times we looked good,” said senior running back, Adam Crenshaw, “We’d get some things going, and then we’d get a penalty, or somebody would miss a block. We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The Granger Lions came out of halftime hot, securing their lead with two touchdowns, a 5-yard run with a successful two-point conversion and a 15-yard pass with an unsuccessful kick. By the end of the quarter, the Lions side of the board jumped 14 points, leaving the score 34-6.

The Bulldogs finally managed to stop the Lion offense in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately, were unable to get anything started on their own side of the offense. Senior linebacker, Kurtis Landry, stated, “We began to show signs of life there at the end. We kept them from a score at the goal line, but overall, we gave the game away in the beginning with penalties and missed tackles. We need to get together and work hard to prepare for homecoming against Chilton next week, so we don’t make those same mistakes.”

“Not our best performance at all by any means,” explained Iola head coach Kerry Bamburg, “It’s us. We’ve got to get better, we’ve got to practice, we’ve got to be there, we’ve got to do things correctly. We can’t make mistakes; we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We just have to get better, and we will.”

Iola faces Chilton at home for their homecoming October 18, at 7 p.m. Granger travels to Bremond October 18, at 7 p.m.