The Mount Vernon Yellow Jackets (1-4) found their identity tonight, as they went on to beat Heath (1-4), 31-16 for their first victory of the season.
It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Yellow Jackets as they have been trying to find themselves in the new Licking County League Conference. Coach Mark Weber gave some insight as to his perspective on the adapting process.
“With a new program and new coaching staff, every week we have tried to dial it in. Every week we have tried different things, every week we have tried to find out who we are. The thing about it is, we don't quit until we figure it out and once we figure it out we are going to keep going,” Weber said.
Mount Vernon started the game off in stride marching down the field three times after back to back shutouts on defense, and scored each time. When it looked like MV was going to go into the locker room with a 21-0 lead, Coach Weber called on the field goal unit, and Senior Kicker Gabe Montoya drilled a 33-yard field goal through the uprights, which made the score going into the half 24-0 in Mount Vernon's favor.
The third quarter generated no score from either team, but four minutes into the 4th Quarter, the Yellow Jackets dynamic running duo of Mavrik Gregory and Dakota Stafford led MV down the field, where Stafford rumbled in for a 2-yard touchdown.
With six minutes left in the game, the Heath Bulldogs seemed to find a small rhythm. Quarterback Braden Gibson led his team down the field with a series of passes resulting in a 3-yard pass to Wide Receiver Carter Mason for a Bulldogs touchdown. Heath converted on the 2-pt conversion to give them eight on the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs successfully attempted an onside kick recovery but fumbled the ball in the end zone. After a Yellow Jackets punt, Heath scored the last touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run-in by Running Back Tristyn Jones.
The Mount Vernon ground attack was explosive tonight, as four different players ran the ball for over 40 yards. Gregory and Stafford, who showed to be a one-two punch only comparable to that of Michigan’s Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, each ran for a touchdown. Gregory had 13 carries for 86 yards while Stafford carried the ball 10 times for 62 yards.
MV Senior Quarterback Jake Taylor went 6-9 passing for 63 yards in the air, while also rushing for 45 yards on 11 carries. Being as Taylor is a Senior this year, the Mount Vernon Community got to see a sneak peak of what's to come, as Junior QB Mason Richards took some snaps tonight and ran for 58 yards on only 6 carries.
The future looks bright for this new-looking football team, and after the win tonight the Jackets seem to be ready for the challenges ahead. Coach Weber was quick to point out that they can not get ahead of themselves just yet though.
“We figured it out tonight, but you gotta make sure you can do the same thing next week. You can't feel like, oh now we got it. You have to keep calibrating and figuring it out, especially in a new program. We just got figured out how to keep a locker room clean, and do things the right kind of way, literally two weeks ago. We didn't have the little things that were not even football related figured out. Tonight was another step in the right direction though,” Weber said.
