MANSFIELD — Victories can be sewn in odd places, and spring from unusual beginnings.
Mount Vernon football coach Mike Kerr noted his team’s growth in a 33-23 loss to Wooster seven days earlier, and saw the seeds from that performance blossom into a 30-26 victory on Friday night at Madison.
“We played Wooster tough last week and they’re in first-place in our conference,” Kerr said. “We carried that momentum through, especially early tonight. We came out on fire.”
The Yellow Jackets (2-2 overall, 2-2 in the conference) blitzed Madison with a dizzying first quarter that threatened to make the game a rout before intermission.
The Rams (0-5, 0-4) lost eight yards on their first three plays from scrimmage and Mount Vernon junior Zach Thomas thundered through to block the ensuing punt. Alex Smith pounced on the loose pigskin in the end zone and with 9:42 remaining in the first period, Mount Vernon had a 7-0 advantage.
Moments later, budding star Jonny Askew unloaded a 61-yard punt to bury Madison at its own 3. Again the Mount Vernon defense swarmed, this time tackling Rams’ running back Trenton Osborne for a safety to make it 9-0.
Quarterback Britten Long tossed a 14-yard TD pass and added a 5-yard scoring run to expand the gap to 23-0 before the first quarter ended.
“Obviously we got off to a bad start, but Mount Vernon caused a lot of that,” Madison coach Dave Stupka said. “We gave up some big plays and it kind of snowballed on us in that first quarter.”
But the Rams didn’t fold. In fact, they too found a kernel of momentum in an odd place. Madison quarterback Hunter Hutcheson fired a 9-yard touchdown strike to Isaac Brooks with just 28 seconds left in the half to make it 23-6 at intermission.
That was enough to ignite Madison’s attack, something it built on in the second half.
“We got up early on them, but we just could not find that next gear to put them away,” Kerr said. “They just kept fighting. I was really impressed with their heart.”
The Yellow Jackets struck again early in the third period, when Long rifled a 55-yard bomb to Askew to make it 30-7, but Mount Vernon would not score again.
“We moved the ball offensively, but we just could not finish off those drives,” Kerr said.
Askew was a flammable presence throughout. He finished with 201 all-purpose yards, almost evenly split between rushing and receiving. Long passed for 169 yards and two scores, while running for a third touchdown. The Yellow Jackets compiled 350 yards of total offense.
But Madison hung tough. Hutcheson hit 16-of-31 passes for 269 yards and four TDs. He connected with Nate Barrett on an 80-yard score, found Ian McGregor on a 12-yard hookup and Brooks again for a 9-yard TD on the final play of the game. Brooks had 7 catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
“That’s the second week in a row we’ve played a competitive game for 48 minutes,” Stupka said. “We’re not satisfied with a loss, but this is a big step forward for us.”
Mount Vernon is at Mansfield Senior next week, while Madison travels to Lexington in the final game before the playoffs begin for all Ohio teams.
