Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — Friday turned out to be a “Sweet” night at Yellow Jacket Stadium.

The Mansfield Madison High School football team came to Mount Vernon to face the Yellow Jackets in a battle of winless teams, and before the night ended, Madison went home with its first victory.

Tim Sweet scored three times to lead the Rams to a 27-13 defeat of Mount Vernon. Sweet had a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown to get Madison on the board in the second quarter, and then added touchdown runs of 68 yards (second quarter, 15 seconds left) and 65 yards (fourth quarter, 3:32 remaining).

“This hurts, no question about it,” said Mount Vernon coach Gary Keller. “This is a game we should not have lost. We had opportunities at various spots to control the game, and just didn’t do it.

“The punt return and the long pass really hurt. Then right before the half, it just seemed like we stopped. I don’t know what is the matter. I don’t understand what is going on. We play well, well, well, well, well and then give up an 80-yard play. You can’t do that and be successful.”

Things started well for the Jackets, who held their own most of the game. Mount Vernon forced Madison to go three-and-out on the initial drive and punt. Punter Robert Michael Siwek had trouble getting it off, however, and Mount Vernon’s Lucas Armstrong and Justin Woodford blocked the ball, which bounced out of bounds at the 22-yard line. Six plays later, Jordan Brooks busted across the goal line to give Mount Vernon its first lead of the season. Corey Sheller’s kick made it a 7-0 game with 9:24 on the clock.

Mount Vernon’s next two drives stalled in Madison territory and the Jackets came away with no points. The Rams, meanwhile, struggled to move the ball as well. That all changed early in the second quarter.

After Mount Vernon was forced to punt from the Madison 44-yard line. Sweet fielded the punt at the 7-yard line and began to weave his way through the Jacket defenders. He finally broke free and raced down the right sideline for the 93-yard score. That started a trend for the Rams.

Madison scored three touchdowns in just 43 seconds in the second quarter and took a 20-7 lead into the locker room. Two drives after the punt return, Madison quarterback Evan Cooper hit Vincent Ajian on a slant across the middle from the 20-yard line, and Ajian took it to the house in just 13 seconds. Sweet added the 68-yard run after Mount Vernon came up short on fourth down at the Rams’ 32.

Following halftime, both teams came out of the locker room looking to pound it out. Neither team did much throughout the third quarter and early in the fourth. Madison finally broke that string when Sweet broke free with 3:32 to go. The play looked dead in the water when Sweet rushed to the left and several Jackets surrounded him, but somehow Sweet reversed his direction and streaked down the right sideline for the 65-yard score.

Mount Vernon answered with an eight-play drive that culminated a Brian Hoar touchdown run from 13 yards out, but it was too little too late.

“We got that blocked punt and capitalized there, but from that point on, we couldn’t do anything again,” said Keller. “We’ve got to be scoring. We had opportunities. I’m sure our offensive coaches are going to be upset when they look back at the film just like our defensive coaches are. We’ve got to be a better team.

“Sometimes I think that we are lacking the will to see something through,” added Keller.

The game was costly for the Jackets, who lost Brooks to an injury in the first quarter. Justin Edwards and Cody Green also left the game injured in the fourth quarter. Cody Reed, seeing his first offensive action this year, stepped up in Brooks’ absence. Reed had 105 yards on 18 carries, and the Jackets rushed for a season-high 220 yards.

Mount Vernon won nearly every statistical category, including first downs (14-4) and time of possession (25:14 to 22:46), but it did not win where it mattered the most — the scoreboard. The Jackets will try to put it all together as they prepare to host Olentangy Orange in the first conference game of the season on Friday.

“Right now, this is a tough situation,” Keller said. “Hopefully the sun comes up tomorrow and we attack it again. We’ve got to start all over. We’ll look at film. There are things there that are positives. We are going to have to build on those positive things and try to control what we can. We have to become a better football team. It is not easy, but we’ve got to do it. That’s our job. Tomorrow is a new day. We’ve got to get up and meet this thing head on and build on the positives.”