MOUNT VERNON — Big plays, turnovers and missed opportunities foiled the Mount Vernon football team Friday. The Jackets turned the ball over six times and missed a field goal as rival Delaware Hayes handed them a 35-16 loss at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
The tone was set on the first play of the game when Delaware’s Vidal O’Conner broke two tackles and raced 80 yards down the sideline for a score.
But Mount Vernon was able to settle down, marching down the field behind the running of Jordan Williamson and Leevi Stump. The drive stalled at the 13-yard line and Robert Kane’s field goal attempt went wide.
The Jackets’ defense stiffened the next drive and Chris Walters came up with the first of his two interceptions for the Jackets. That sparked the offense, which cruised 38 yards on 10 plays and scored when Williamson ran it in from 1 yard out. The PAT kick was blocked, though, and Delaware held on to the lead.
Walters stuffed another Pacer drive in the second quarter, but the Jackets handed the ball right back to Delaware when they fumbled the exchange on a reverse.
Delaware (3-2, 1-0) took advantage, scoring on a 12-yard run by Kody Akers.
“We had some big plays at different times of the game. In those situations, we’ve got to come away with points,” said Mount Vernon coach Gary Keller. “We did a lot of things good tonight, but we also did some things bad. We’ve got to try and correct the bad and move forward.”
Mount Vernon (1-4 overall, 0-2 OCC) got a big play from Stump to open the third quarter when he raced 47 yards down the right sideline. The drive stalled on Delaware’s 19 yard line and Kane drilled a 36-yard field goal to close the gap to 14-9.
That’s when the good things stopped for the Jackets.
Hayes needed just eight plays to put another touchdown on the scoreboard, then scored again on a 28-yard interception return. The Pacers put the game away with another touchdown by Akers, this time a 17-yard keeper.
“You’ve got to give their quarterback credit. He did a nice job running their offense. He was able to do a lot of different things with the ball,” Keller said. “I thought we could contain him, but at that point, he got the yards needed to keep the drives going.”
Mount Vernon’s final score came on a 60-yard run by Williamson.
The Jackets were without starting quarterback Kody Green, who was injured in last week’s game, and Keller believes Stump is not quite 100 percent after getting injured at Mansfield Madison. But he doesn’t buy into that as an excuse for the offense.
“We have to, as a team, we have to tighten up. We’ve had some changes and we have to look at different ways to win the ballgame,” Keller said.
Williamson finished the night with 104 yards on 20 carries to lead the Jackets. Stump added 81 yards on 12 carries.
Akers led Hayes with 128 yards rushing, while O’Conner had 104.
The Jackets will host Worthington Kilbourne next Friday at 7:30 p.m. It is Homecoming.
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At halftime of Friday’s game, former Mount Vernon head football coach Ben Wilson was honored. Wilson led the Jackets to 19 straight wins in 1956 and ’57, and a plaque honoring him and that accomplishment will be placed at the entrance to Yellow Jacket Stadium. Friday, members of those two football teams, as well as members of Wilson’s family, were on hand to unveil the plaque.
