Mt. Vernon’ s Eli Bridenthal (9) looks for a hole as he follows Ashton Julian (22) at their game against Franklin earlier this season. Bridenthal had a big night in the Marauders HHC win at Delta Friday.
Rob Baker | For The Daily Reporter
By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
MUNCIE — A Marauder offense that was nonexistent last week was firing on all cylinders on Friday night.
On the road, Mt. Vernon won a high-scoring affair over the Delta Eagles 42-28.
“Great week. Last Friday was not good, but our preparation up until Friday was really good,” Mt. Vernon head coach Vince Lidy said. “It was a good wake up call. We did a good job this week of preparing and we had good practices.”
It was a duo of Mt. Vernon seniors leading the charge all night long —Eli Bridenthal and George Burhenn.
Bridenthal, normally a do-it-all player for the Marauders seeing time at quarterback, running back and wide receiver, started the game under center and remained there the entirety of the first half.
The decision to start Bridenthal at quarterback paid off almost immediately for Lidy.
On the opening drive it was Bridenthal keeping the ball on designed quarterback runs for the majority of the way down field.
He totaled 48 yards on the drive including a 21-yard touchdown run.
That touchdown was the first of many for Bridenthal on the night, both on the ground and through the air.
On the Marauders second drive of the night he found a wide open Burhenn down the sideline who broke one tackle in route to a 50-yard touchdown.
After a defensive stop, they connected for the score once again, this time from 18 yards out.
“Our offensive guys talk about touches and all those things. We have to get the ball to certain guys in space and with good numbers,” Lidy said. “If they double somebody we’ve got to be able to run the ball or somebody has to make a play. Eli and George did that for us tonight and helped us on defense as well.”
Delta hung around with the Marauders all night long.
In the 1st half they added two scores of their own. First it was Nolan Carpenter running one in from five yards out and then quarterback Kaiden Bond dove one in from 1-yard away.
Bridenthal gave the Marauders some much needed halftime insurance when he snuck one in from 1-yard out as well just before halftime to give Mt. Vernon the 27-14 lead going into the break.
The second half was more of the same for the Mt. Vernon offense, but this time with their normal starting quarterback, freshman Luke Ertel, under center.
“We’re going to play both all year. They make us hard to defend,” Lidy said about his two quarterbacks. “We’re going to put pressure on defenses by not letting them line up knowing what we are going to do. We can not become one dimensional so right now we have two guys that are going to play.”
Although it was a new quarterback for the Marauders, it was Burhenn and Bridenthal continuing their offensive onslaught.
Burhenn, after catching two touchdowns in the first half, added one on the ground when he ran over the Delta defense on a 9-yard run up the middle.
At the start of the fourth quarter Bridenthal punched in his fifth total touchdown on the night from 1-yard out once again to give Mt. Vernon a comfortable 42-21 lead.
Delta added on one more score late in the fourth, and after the first Mt. Vernon punt of the night. The Eagles were threatening to close the gap before Hayden Kottlowski hit Bond in the backfield and forced a fumble that was recovered by Tyler Kimberly.
“Delta’s tough to prepare for but other than a busted coverage and a halfback pass we looked good,” Lidy said. “We made them drive the field. We need to find ways to get more sacks or turnovers but I’m proud of how our guys came back.”
The turnover sealed the game.
Mt. Vernon now sits at 2-3 and 2-1 in Hoosier Heritage Conference play. They travel to Pendleton to face off against Pendleton Heights next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ve still got a pulse and we’re moving forward,” Lidy said.
