MOUNT VERNON — At the midway point in their season, the Mount Vernon Yellow Jackets finally played to their potential.
The result was a two-goal comeback and a near miss against one of Ohio’s best teams.
Mount Vernon lost, 3-2, at home to Worthington Kilbourne on Thursday. However, the match wouldn’t have been close had it not been for Mount Vernon’s valiant effort as a team in the second half.
Near the midway point in the second half and down by a score of 2-0, nothing had been going right for the Jackets (5-3). They had been out-hustled and were losing man-to-man matchups. However, at the 58-minute mark, Mount Vernon had something they hadn’t had at all in the match — a good scoring opportunity. Seth Badger took the ball up the sideline and passed it to a streaking Travis Kiger up the middle. Kiger had a clear look at the goal, with only the goalkeeper in front of him. Kiger’s shot reached the back of the net, and it was 2-1.
Three minutes later, Kiger fired a corner kick to just the right spot in front of the net. Corey Kester one-timed the ball into the goal to knot the game at 2.
“I’m so proud of my kids,” said Dapprich. “They could have easily given up, being down 2-0. ... We changed our strategy a bit, and they responded.”