MOUNT VERNON – Isaiah Jones came within inches of a game-winner against one of the top teams in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Instead, the ball sailed just wide of the rain-soaked goal, and Mount Vernon settled for a 2-2 draw at home Tuesday against Ashland.
Jones had already scored both goals for the Yellow Jackets when his final opportunity came with just two minutes to go. He took a pass in the box and ended up one-on-one against Ashland goalkeeper Bryce Thompson. But the shot missed high and to the right.
On the other side of the pitch, Mount Vernon senior Christian Dean recorded nine saves, including two on a penalty kick and a follow-up shot. Dean saved Trace Myers’ PK in the ninth minute of the first half with a dive to the right but could not control the rebound. The ball ended up in front of another Ashland player who fired a shot to the left, which prompted another sprawling diving save from Dean.
“If we’re realistic, we both had chances,” Mount Vernon coach Scott Dapprich said. “Both teams played physically, and neither team backed down. It was fun to be a part of that game.”
Mount Vernon’s two goals were a departure from the team’s recent offensive show. The Jackets (7-2-1, 2-2-1 OCC) scored double-digits in each of the previous four games while allowing just one goal. Granted, those four opponents were lower-division schools Highland and Marion Harding and last year’s OCC basement-dwellers West Holmes and Mansfield Senior.
Against the OCC’s traditional powerhouses, Mount Vernon lost to Wooster, 2-1, and to Lexington, 1-0. Tuesday was the team’s final bout in the trifecta.
The divide in the OCC is real. But Tuesday’s draw may have proven that the Jackets belong in that upper tier.
“We played them last year in this weather, and they got us by one,” Dapprich said. “These kids are so tough, and they take so much, and they keep coming back.”
Jones scored his first goal Tuesday in the sixth minute on a shot from over 60 feet away. He scored again in the second half to even the match following a pass from Jacob Deever.
Ashland (3-4-3, 2-1-2 OCC) tied the match in the 17th minute with a goal from Owen Sharick. Later, with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, Dylan Kruty scored to give the Arrows a 2-1 lead at halftime.
Mount Vernon had five shots on goal, with the Arrows getting 11. Ashland led in corner kicks, 6-1.
