Pirates sail past Bulldogs

IOLA-- The Iola Bulldogs (4-3) were faced with a tough 12-2A district loss against the Chilton Pirates putting them 0-2 in district play on homecoming night.

The Bulldogs and Pirates came out strong defensively in the opening-quarter, both unable to make a move on offense until the end of the quarter when the Bulldogs junior lineman, Spencer Quinland, completed his first successful career touchdown. “That was really cool,” Quinland commented about his touchdown. “Every lineman wants to do that-every single one. It was absolutely the highlight of my football career so far.”

Unfortunately, in the second quarter the Bulldogs were unable to keep up the production on offense and were also unable to compensate with their defense. The Bulldogs let the Pirates set-sail for a triple touchdown quarter with 69 total passing yards and a 3-yard run. Two of the three point-after attempts were successful ending the quarter 20-6, Pirates in the lead.

The 2019 Homecoming Court was presented at halftime. Offensive lineman, Clayton Costello, escorted by his mother, Yvonne Costello , and Hannah Bradicich, escorted by her father, Kurt Bradicich were crowned king and queen.

Costello says, “It’s a mix of relief and misery knowing that this is going to be my last homecoming. It hurts to lose and it’s going to be a hard Band-Aid to rip off, but I feel like our class is strong enough to play on to the next game.”

Into the third quarter, things started looking up for the Bulldogs when quarterback Blake Driver completed a 25-yard pass to Adam Crenshaw allowing the Bulldogs a chance to crawl back into the game. Though the Bulldogs only scored once in the third quarter, their defensive players were able to hold the Chilton offense to no score in the third. The quarter ended with the Pirates still in the lead 20-12.

The Bulldogs fell apart in the fourth quarter, allowing the Pirates to score two touchdowns on a 36-yard pass and a 1-yard run with no score from the Bulldogs to match Chilton’s aggressive offense. “Obviously I have to do a better job of getting them ready,” said Iola head coach Kerry Bamburg, “They have to execute, but I’m going to put this one on me and we’ll get better. We’ll take the bye week and get some healing done and then we’ll come back the next week a whole lot better.”

“The community was great,” said outside linebacker Kurtis Landry. “We had lots of supporters and a big crowd that were all here to support us as well. We love the community and are excited for another big crowd tomorrow at the parade, but we are very sorry that we couldn’t pull out a win and finish the game.”

Iola has an open week before taking on Bremond Friday, Nov. 1, at Tiger Stadium. Chilton hosts Bremond Friday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m.