FORTVILLE — Mike Kirschner wasn’t handing out letter grades on Saturday afternoon, but if he was, the Mt. Vernon football coach would have needed an extra red ink pen.
Yes, the Class 4A No. 3 Mt. Vernon Marauders improved to 3-0 on the season, and their 35-6 victory over rival Greenfield-Central marked the third straight time the team initiated the IHSAA mercy rule.
Yet, despite opening the Hoosier Heritage Conference portion of their schedule with a win on Saturday, Kirschner didn’t see anything resembling perfection, though his Marauders’ record might indicate otherwise.
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He saw glaring areas where 5A No. 2 New Palestine (2-0, 1-0 HHC) — and other future opponents — could expose the Marauders’ weakness, particularly in this Friday night’s Boundary Rail game with the defending HHC champion Dragons.
“I’m not pleased at all. We’re still trying to figure it out, collectively, what it takes to go from practice to a game,” Kirschner said. “We haven’t figured it out, and until we do, we’re just an average football team.”
The Marauders amassed 236 yards in total offense against the Cougars (0-1, 0-1 HHC) and rushed for three touchdowns, while quarterback Gehrig Slunaker threw for a pair.
However, mistakes cost the Marauders additional opportunities, Kirschner emphasized, especially early on as Mt. Vernon clung to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter before slowly settling in for a 29-point run.
“We’re not blocking well up front. We do well at times, and then at other times we have mental lapses that have to end,” Kirschner said. “Our snaps killed us. Our penalties killed drives. The snaps killed drives.”
Senior standout Rylan Cole rushed for 52 of the team’s 107 yards on nine carries to lead the Marauders. He broke free for two touchdown runs measured at 10 and 28 yards.
Slunaker completed 12-of-20 pass attempts for 129 yards and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Koziol in the third quarter that put Mt. Vernon ahead 28-0.
Meanwhile, Keagan La Belle added a 34-yard touchdown reception that initiated a running clock in the third quarter and a 3-yard rushing touchdown, which capped a 10-play drive on Mt. Vernon’s second offensive series to put the Marauders ahead 6-0.
The problem, however, boiled down to two words for Kirschner: consistency and execution.
“The defense played well. We did some good things on special teams, but we dropped a snap on the very first PAT. We just dropped it. There’s no execution with the center, we just dropped it,” Kirschner said. “It’s that kind of stuff we do at practice that carries over.”
Mt. Vernon scored on five of its 10 total possessions, but were stymied on their first offensive series on fourth-and-8 from Greenfield-Central’s 30.
At 4 for 7 on third downs, the Marauders punted twice and had a lost fumble on a bad snap out of their shotgun formation.
An intercepted pass by Cougars’ Hudson McGuire on Mt. Vernon’s third possession in the first quarter kept the offense quiet until Cole ignited the running game midway through the second.
“Yeah, we’re 3-0, but we’re still not satisfied. We have the biggest week of our lives coming up ahead of us against one of the best teams in the state (in New Palestine), and we’re really going to have to execute better,” Cole said.
In his first Saturday game since committing to Indiana State, Cole fit the role of a collegiate recruit. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound all-state, two-way starter wasn’t fazed by the oddity of not playing on Friday night.
Instead, he flashed his athleticism with a 28-yard run into the end zone on third-and-3 to give Mt. Vernon a 12-0 lead in the second quarter. A two-point conversion run by Jack Robinson made up for the first-quarter muffed extra-point attempt.
Cole’s second TD run at 10 yards capitalized on a short field that the Marauders were gifted after a failed fake punt by the Cougars on fourth-and-7 from their own 25.
“I spoke to the college coaches (before the game), and they said, ‘You better get used to it because we’ll be playing on Saturdays.’ It honestly was good. The weather was nice, and it felt good waking up and not having to sit through school all day,” Cole said. “There’s nothing that beats playing on a Friday night, but we were able to adjust.”
The annual rivalry game was originally scheduled for Friday night but was pushed back to Saturday morning to help accommodate Greenfield-Central’s practice requirements in order to compete in Week 3 of the 2020 high school football season.
Greenfield-Central was forced to halt football operations for two weeks, beginning on Aug. 17 due to COVID-19 quarantines and were playing catch up.
But, they also challenged the high-octane Marauders in spurts.
“It’s the same for both of us. I can sit here and say it’s a problem for us, but it’s the same problem for them. Nobody gained an advantage that way,” Kirschner said. “Do I like Saturdays? I can’t stand it, but the bottom line is no one gained an advantage by playing Saturday. So, we have to play the way we’re supposed to play.”
Regardless of the day, the Marauders failed that test, according to Kirschner.
On Mt. Vernon’s fourth possession, a holding penalty led to a second-and-25 from Greenfield-Central’s 38 that erased a 15-yard keeper run by Slunaker.
The Marauders eventually had to punt, and the lost fumble late in the second quarter stopped a probably scoring drive on second-and-2 from the Cougars’ 8.
“We better get better or we’re going to give up 100 (against New Palestine),” Kirschner said.
On defense, the Marauders exceeded its 12.0 points allowed per game average behind six sacks, including two by Jalen Thompson. La Belle and Avery Williams each finished with one sack, along with Mekhi Richmond.
The Cougars were held to 112 yards in total offense with 88 yards rushing. Andrew Zellers led the Cougars with 32 yards on nine carries, followed by quarterback Lance McKee’s 30 on 23 rushing attempts.
“We’re getting better day by day. They’re in Year 3 now in their rebuild with their coach and their system, and we’re in Year 2. We still have a lot of young guys at a lot of positions, and the other part of it is we’ve only had five practices compared to a 14-day layover,” G-C head coach Travis Nolting said. “Our kids are a little rusty in some areas, but the defense played well. We got after it.”
Joey Roland recorded the Cougars’ lone sack, and the offense orchestrated an 18-play drive that burnt up the final 5:30 of the third quarter and the first 7:30 in the fourth to end Mt. Vernon’s shutout bid.
Zellers finalized the long drive with a 1-yard touchdown run and a 19-yard burst on third-and-3 to setup the score.
“It’s just great to play a game. Our kids have been sitting out for 14 days with the quarantine, and some of them for four weeks because they were quarantined before that,” Nolting said. “We had about 30 kids out for our scrimmage, and we still have some out because they don’t have enough practices in, so we’ll be pretty close to being at full strength next week.”
The Marauders will need to be on top of their game at home on Friday.
After its victory against Yorktown this past Friday, New Palestine has now won 65 consecutive regular-season games and 30 straight games overall since 2018. New Palestine defeated Yorktown 35-0 on Friday and hasn’t lost an HHC games since Oct. 12, 2012, against Mt. Vernon 48-13 on the road.
The Dragons will seek their 50th consecutive HHC win during the annual Boundary Rail game against Mt. Vernon this week.
“Yeah, we’re a good team and we have talent, but it’s the little things that are going to defeat us. We have the ability to beat any team, but things like the bad snaps and the little mistakes are what could really defeat us and take us down,” Cole said.
“This year has been different. The whole team is more motivated, and everyone believes we have a chance to actually compete. But, still, we have to prepare like any other week. Yeah, they’re one of the best teams in the state, but we have to prepare harder than we have.”
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MT. VERNON 35, GREENFIELD-CENTRAL 6
GC (0-1, 0-1 HHC);0;0;0;6;-;6
MV (3-0, 1-0 HHC);6;15;14;0;-;35
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
MV – Keagan La Belle 3 yd run (kick failed), 3:27
2nd Quarter
MV – Rylan Cole 28 yd run (Jack Robinson run), 5:02
MV – Cole 10 yd run (AJ Swingle kick), 2:48
3rd Quarter
MV – Tanner Koziol 7 yd pass from Gehrig Slunaker (Swingle kick), 7:56
MV – La Belle 34 yd pass from Slunaker (Swingle kick), 5:58
4th Quarter
GC – Andrew Zellers 1 yd run (2pt run failed), 4:32
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