For The Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — No senior-night festivities for the Mt. Vernon Marauders on Friday night. With three key seniors out, the underclassmen led the Marauders (5-4, 4-3 Hoosier Heritage Conference) to a 24-7 win against the Yorktown Tigers.
Juwann Nelson, Jordan House and Jimmy Campbell were all sidelined, but the Marauders didn’t miss a beat with sophomore quarterback Josh Coons at the helm.
The Marauders stuck to their traditional wing look to help take the pressure off of Coons and let the experienced offensive line take control.
“We can get older kids in there and we can do that a little bit better,” said Mt. Vernon coach Doug Armstrong. “Josh is a very capable runner, so our running plays out of the spread are still effective.”
Coons hit a wide-open crease early in the first quarter with a big 37-yard scamper to convert a third down and keep the Marauder offense on the field. Ten plays later, Nathan Seifert powered though the Yorktown defense from six yards out for the Marauders’ first score. Williams broke free from the initial tackle and then broke a few more on his way to a 68-yard gain that put the Marauders in the red zone. Mitch McCarthy scampered into the end zone from 13 yards out for the two touchdown advantage.
In just the first half alone the Marauders amassed 196 yards on the ground off of 19 carries. They finished the game with 298 yards on the ground with Seifert and Williams shouldering the load.
Coons powered through the Yorktown defense for yet another score. His 1-yard touchdown run put the Marauders up by three scores and was his first varsity touchdown of the year.
Seifert and Williams each finished the game with over 100 yards rushing, but both in very different fashions. Seifert ground out 112 yards and one score off of 26 carries fighting for every inch.
Williams on the other hand used his tremendous speed to attack the edge and then burst for big chunks of yardage. He finished with 101 yards on just seven carries.
“Mitch and Nathan have a year of varsity experience and Josh and Eric run the ball well,” Armstrong said. “They’re all just good, hard runners.”
The Marauders will open up sectionals next Friday at 7 p.m. against the Jay County Patriots. It’s the first time Mt. Vernon has played the Patriots.
