FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Marauders kept the celebration to a minimum on Friday night.
For a second straight season, the Class 4A fifth-ranked Marauders reigned supreme in the Hoosier Heritage Conference after defeating visiting Yorktown, 63-13, to clinch the outright championship.
However, unlike a year ago, it was more formality, then the ultimate measure for Mt. Vernon (8-1, 7-0 HHC).
In 2020, their HHC title marked the program’s first league championship since 2012 and first outright in eight years.
Now, with seven HHC championships captured since 1997, including four outright titles (2003, 2012, 2020 and 2021), the focus has turned.
“The regular season is finished. Obviously, we’d like to be perfect. We still think about the first game (against Noblesville), so we know we’ve been beat before. We think about it and all the losses we’ve had,” Mt. Vernon senior quarterback Gehrig Slunaker said. “We’re just trying to keep that in the back of our mind and try to keep getting better every day.”
With a potential third straight sectional championship in mind, the Marauders came out to complete their first task, and it resulted in an eighth consecutive IHSAA mercy-rule, running clock since losing to Noblesville 57-36 on Aug. 20.
Mt. Vernon’s 63 points signified the most they’ve produced this season and matched their 2020 best when they went unbeaten through the regular season and 12 games overall before falling to eventual state champion Roncalli in the regional finals, 35-14.
Against Yorktown, the Marauders generated 455 yards in total offense by halftime, highlighted by four rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns from Slunaker.
Slunaker didn’t take a snap under center the entire second half, as the Marauders rested a majority of their starters.
By the final horn, the Marauders posted 508 total yards of offense, which surpassed their previous high of 479 set in one half against Shelbyville last week.
“We know what we can do, and we know what we’re capable of, but we respect every opponent, and we just try to go out and score as many points as we can,” Slunaker said. “We try to spread it around and try to keep it even for everyone to keep everyone involved.”
The Marauders’ motto was spread the wealth, and they achieved it with 27 points scored in the first quarter and 29 more in the second to lead 56-0 by halftime.
Eli Bridenthal put the onslaught in motion on Mt. Vernon’s first offensive drive, capping a seven-play series that covered 84 yards in 2 minutes, 34 seconds with a 4-yard rushing touchdown.
The junior added a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown later in the first quarter to make it 27-0 before finishing his night with a 10-yard TD reception in the second to increase the lead 48-0.
“He missed two weeks because of contact tracing, and he’s always been in our game plan, but we haven’t really played teams that have thrown the ball much,” Mt. Vernon head coach Vince Lidy remarked on Bridenthal’s defense. “He was out for New Castle, but he was able to get to that ball.”
Owen Johnson found the quarterback for three sacks to captain the Marauders’ defense, which forced six punts, two interceptions and a turnover on downs. The second pick went to Hunter Atikinson on the Tigers’ (5-4, 3-4 HHC) final offensive drive in the first half.
On offense, five different Marauders found the end zone.
Keagan La Belle rushed for 143 yards on six carries and two scores measuring 76 and 8 yards. Trevon Hegler carried the ball four times for 16 yards and a 12-yard touchdown.
Ashden Gentry had a rush that covered 43 yards and contributed 47 yards on two carries, but he did most of his damage in the passing game. The senior hauled in three catches for 64 yards and a 53-yard touchdown.
Hegler had the longest touchdown reception at 91 yards, while backup running back Ashton Julian registered Mt. Vernon’s final score with a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“Any time they get the ball in their hands, they have a chance to do something explosive,” Lidy said.
Mt. Vernon’s quickest scoring drive required only 13 seconds via La Belle’s 76-yard sprint to the end zone in the second quarter. The Marauders had four drives that ate up less than a minute to find pay dirt.
Slunaker’s 91-yard strike to Hegler ended a 36-second drive. Gentry’s TD reception was the second play during a 42-second series. Bridenthal’s 10-yard touchdown catch was the fourth play in a 54-second drive.
Slunaker completed 8 of 10 pass attempts for 216 yards.
“Our skill guys again, I like them in space against anybody,” Lidy said. “Obviously, when we throw it, we have to be able to handle pressure, and we got some good stops and were able to build a good lead by halftime.”
The Marauders win over Yorktown was their seventh consecutive versus the Tigers and 25th overall in the two program’s series.
Now, the Marauders are fixating on the postseason opener at home this upcoming Friday against HHC rival Pendleton Heights, which they beat 43-0 on Sept. 24.
“That’s really hard to do, especially in football, to beat a team twice,” Slunaker said. “But, we have a new season starting. As far as I’m concerned we’re 0-0 right now, so the new journey starts now.”
En route to their second straight sectional title last year, the Marauders defeated Pendleton Heights, 32-7, in the semifinal round on the road.
“We start Pendleton Heights tomorrow,” Lidy said. “In a good conference, it’s always hard to beat teams twice because everybody knows what you do. You’re not going to go out and trick people anyway. If you have to trick them to win that’s another scenario. We’re going to go in and put everything on the table against Pendleton. We’ll go out and see where that goes.”
Mt. Vernon 63, Yorktown 13
MT. VERNON (8-1, 7-0 HHC);27;29;0;7;—;63
YORKTOWN (5-4, 3-4 HHC);0;0;6;7;—;13
Scoring Summary
MV—Eli Bridenthal 4 run (2pt failed), 7:54
MV—Travon Hegler 12 run (2pt good), 5:18
MV—Hegler 91 pass from Gehrig Slunaker (Ethan Yeley kick), 2:34
MV—Bridenthal 40 INT return (kick failed), 2:15
MV—Ashden Gentry 53 pass from Slunaker (2pt good), 10:31
MV—Keagan La Belle 76 run (Yeley kick), 6:18
MV—Bridenthal 10 pass from Slunaker (Yeley kick), 3:35
MV—La Belle 8 run (Yeley kick), 1:38
YK—Adam Morrow 73 pass from Mason Moulton (2pt failed), 6:16
MV—Ashton Julian 10 run (Dean Helms kick), 6:42
YK—Blair Webster 22 pass from Wilson Webster (Joey Hazen kick), 1:23
