MANSFIELD – Mount Vernon jumped out to a 23-0 first-quarter lead and held off a late charge by host Mansfield Madison in a 30-26 victory in Ohio Cardinal Conference football play Friday night at Startek Stadium.
Zach Thomas jump-started the Yellow Jackets (2-2, 2-2) with a blocked punt that was recovered by Alex Smith in the end zone for a touchdown, giving Mount Vernon a 7-0 lead a little more than two minutes into the game.
Special teams set up the next score too. Punter Manny Durfee pinned the Rams deep with a 61-yard punt that rolled down to the 3. On the next play, Ethan Laslo, Nate Stradley and others tackled Madison running back Isaac Brooks in the end zone for a safety and it was 9-0 Jackets with 7:10 remaining in the opening stanza.
“It was a great start to the game,” Mount Vernon senior quarterback Britten Long said. “I didn’t really expect that. It was easy to get into the game. I know we were going to have to play hard because (Madison wasn’t) going to lay down.”
Jesse Foster caught a pair of balls for 32 yards, the latter of which was a swing pass that scored from 14 yards out, making it 16-0 Mount Vernon at the 4:40 mark of the first quarter.
Long hooked up with Foster on the first play of the next drive for a 67-yard pass play. Foster broke tackles and carried a defender for 10 yards. Two plays later, Long was in the end zone from 4 yards out to make it 23-0 with 1:34 left in the first.
“We got up early, but we could not find that next switch,” Mount Vernon coach Mike Kerr said. “We gotta be able to put it away. Kuddos to (Madison) for continuing to play. To go down the way they did and continue to work. That’s great on them. But we gotta find a way to put them away and finish teams off.”
Foster finished with three catches for 99 yards.
Jonny Askew carried four times for 75 yards and added 62 yards and a touchdown on three catches for the Yellow Jackets. The score came on a post route that went for 55 yards, giving the Jackets a 30-6 lead early in the third quarter.
The Jackets gave Kerr some teachable moments.
Zach Mullins added another blocked punt on the following possession, but Mount Vernon couldn’t convert and turned it over on downs.
That’s when Madison made its move. On the Rams' first play, Noah Barrett got behind the Jacket defense and hauled in a pass from Hunter Hutcheson that ended as an 80-yard touchdown to cut their deficit to 30-13 late in the third.
Barrett led the Rams (0-5, 0-4) with three sacks on defense.
“We moved the ball offensively, but we gotta find a way to finish it off (in the red zone),” Kerr said. “I think that was the big thing. We had opportunities … we just weren’t able to finish them off. Last week, I thought we did a real good job in the red zone, and this week I thought we struggled a little bit.”
Madison got another score— a 12-yard touchdown pass from Hutcheson to Ian McGregor with 43 seconds left— and it was 30-20.
McGregor recovered the ensuing onside kick at Mount Vernon’s 40 and the Rams turned it into a touchdown— a Hutcheson-to-Brooks pass— with no time left on the clock.
Long finished with 174 yards on 8 of 19 passing with two touchdowns and an interception, and AJ Keen carried 22 times for 67 yards for the Jackets.
“The line gave me pretty good protection,” Long said. “I always feel like I have a ton of time back there. Guys went out and caught the ball. It’s like pitch-and-catch when can throw the ball and know they’ll catch it.”
Hutcheson finished 16-for-32 for 269 yards and four touchdowns, Brooks caught seven passes for 153 yards and two scores, and Ethan Spillman had 58 yards on 13 carries for the Rams.
Next up: Mount Vernon heads back to Mansfield to take on Senior at Arlin Field next Friday night at 7 p.m.
