NEW PALESTINE — With each passing week, the Mt. Vernon Marauders are proving they’re as good as gold on the football field.
After blowing out rival Class 5A No. 15 New Palestine at Kelso Stadium, 49-10, on Friday night, the 4A No. 10 Marauders made certain the Dragons knew it.
Already in possession of the Boundary Rail, a traveling trophy that first emerged in 2005 between the two rival programs, the 2021 Marauders added their own special touch to the prize.
In 2020, after Mt. Vernon seized the Boundary Rail by defeating New Palestine for the first time since 2012, the Marauders painted the, formerly, red rail all black.
Mt. Vernon’s Ashden Gentry changed it up for the repeat victory, which cut New Palestine’s all-time Boundary Rail series lead to 14-3 and marked its first regular-season home loss since 2013.
Surrounded by his teammates, Gentry painted the rail gold.
“Probably one of the best feelings in my life, honestly,” Gentry remarked on spray painting the Boundary Rail. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.”
The decision was made collectively, as a team, and against their top Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference foe, the Marauders (3-1, 2-0 HHC) played the exact same way despite trailing New Palestine (1-3, 1-1 HHC) early on 10-0.
“It’s gold now,” Mt. Vernon quarterback Gehrig Slunaker said. “It was black, but at New Pal, there’s a little bit of black in their colors, so we wanted nothing to do with New Pal. It’s all gold now. I like it.”
Down 7-0 after a game-opening touchdown drive by the Dragons, the Marauders appeared destined to lose hold of the rail as New Palestine quarterback Damon Hockett’s scored on a 13-yard run.
The Dragons built a 10-0 lead after Brendan Tanksley converted a 27-yard field goal to highlight New Palestine’s second possession.
From there, the Marauders took over, scoring 49 unanswered points and initiated their third consecutive running clock in as many weeks to halt New Palestine’s regular-season, home-winning streak at 33.
“You can only fool people for so long, and it lasted two series,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said.
The Marauders defense silenced the Dragons by forcing four punts, two turnover on downs and two interceptions, including a 60-yard INT returned for a touchdown by Ren Davis that gave Mt. Vernon a 21-10 lead in the second quarter.
“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game. It’s not going to be easy,” Slunaker said. “We just had to trust in ourselves. We had to settle down and stick to Mt. Vernon football.”
Slunaker and Gentry kicked off the momentum turn on Mt. Vernon’s second possession, down 10-0.
Needing one play and 10 seconds, Slunaker connected with Gentry for a 73-yard touchdown pass, marking the first of four scoring series in the first half.
Slunaker finished the night with 207 yards passing on 11 of 13 completions with three touchdowns. Two went to Gentry, who racked up three catches for 83 yards.
Keagan La Belle added 70 yards rushing and an 11-yard touchdown on 10 carries. Travon Halger rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries and a 5-yard touchdown that put Mt. Vernon ahead for good 14-10 with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the first quarter.
“They came out strong, and we weren’t just going to sit back and let it happen,” Gentry said. “I think our defense stepped up, but our offense came through and we put 49 points on the board.”
The defense setup the Marauders second touchdown drive as senior linebacker Max Hayse sacked Hockett twice on New Palestine’s third possession, accounting for 14 negative yards and later a punt.
George Burhenn had the Marauders’ second interception on first-and-10 from New Palestine’s 38 with 2:14 left before halftime.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot, and then we’re finally able to answer with a play. Got down 10-7, and our defense finally started getting in our gaps, and we refused to let (Grayson Thomas) do anything. Our goal was to stop him,” Mt. Vernon head coach Vince Lidy said. “We were going to make their quarterback and them beat us.
“We were never going to stop being aggressive. Our defense settled in and the pick-6 was huge. It kind of snowballed.”
The Dragons were held to 66 total rushing yards and limited Thomas to 17 yards on 14 carries. The sophomore rusher was coming off a 207-yard performance last week against Yorktown during the Dragons’ 42-14 win.
Hockett completed 7 of 15 pass attempts for 108 yards and two interceptions.
The Marauders had their hiccups, losing a fumble midway through the second quarter, but the defense stood its ground as the Dragons began their drive on Mt. Vernon’s 21.
Three plays by the Dragons resulted in two negative yards before Tanksley’s 40-yard field goal attempt came up short.
“I thought it could have been a shootout. They’ve been putting points up,” Lidy said. “We had to take away the running game, and once we did that, it was stop the quarterback.”
Instead, it was the Marauders offense that thrived.
Slunaker found Eli Bridenthal for a 47-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-10 in the second quarter, and the senior hit Gentry with a 2-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead 35-10 with 15.3 seconds left in the first half.
The second touchdown pass to Gentry capped a 30-yard drive that Burhenn’s interception established.
Slunaker rushed for the Marauders’ fifth touchdown, a 1-yarder to cap a 10-play drive to open the second half. La Belle’s rushing touchdown on the next possession started the IHSAA’s mercy-rule running clock.
“It’s absolutely embarrassing. And then to see them stomp on the Dragon (on the field), classlessly, was disgraceful and disrespectful. We’ve never done it to them, but, you know what, they owned our field tonight. So, what can I say about that? I don’t like it, but I don’t like the outcome of this game either,” Ralph said.
“I think, the important lesson is, history does nothing for you. My previous players don’t play for me anymore. My previous teams don’t play here anymore. You don’t win games because you wear New Palestine on your jersey and show up.”
New Palestine converted only 3 of 12 third-down situations and had 10 first downs with two off penalties.
“It’s really sweet, doing it two years in a row,” Slunaker said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
“This just solidifies that it’s just us the past two years,” Gentry added.
Mt. Vernon 49, New Palestine 10
MT. VERNON (3-1, 2-0 HHC);14;21;14;0;—;49
NEW PALESTINE (1-3, 1-1 HHC);10;0;0;0;—;10
NP—Damon Hockett 13 run (Brendan Tanksley kick), 10:32
NP—Tanksley 27 FG, 5:33
MV—Ashden Gentry 73 pass from Gehrig Slunaker (Ethan Yeley kick), 5:18
MV—Travon Hagler 5 run (Yeley kick), 1:20
MV—Ren Davis 60 INT return (Yeley kick), 11:48
MV—Eli Bridenthal 47 pass from Slunaker (Yeley kick), 10:17
MV—Gentry 2 pass from Slunaker (Yeley kick), 15.3
MV—Slunaker 1 run (Yeley kick), 9:01
MV—Keagan La Belle 11 run (Yeley kick), 1:49
