Mt'neers clobber Catholic Fighting Irish 42-7

The Mt. Vernon Mt’neers roared back into the winner’s circle on Friday, Oct. 1, when they scored an impressive victory over Springfield Catholic High School’s Fighting Irish at the C.H. "Chub" O'Reilly Sports Complex. The game was the Mt’neers fourth win of the season.
The Mt’neers drew first blood early in the game when Gavin Johnston completed a 62-yard touchdown pass to Clayton Turner near the beginning of the first quarter. Malachi Hennum followed up with a successful PAT to make the score 7-0.
Springfield Catholic scored their own touchdown and PAT about midway through second quarter, however, the Mt’neers responded with three successive touchdowns before the end of the half. Braden Dodson scored the first when he made a six-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes remaining on the play clock.
About a minute later, Alex Watson intercepted the ball from the Fighting Irish to put the Mt’neers on defense. Johnston then completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Braxton Horton to give the team their third touchdown of the evening. Finally, with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half, Johnston completed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Horton. Each of these touchdowns was followed up with a successful PAT by Hennum, making the score 28-7 at the end of the half.
In third quarter, Layton Pendleton gave the Mt’neers their fifth touchdown of the evening when he made a 39-yard punt return near the start of the quarter. Finally, with about four minutes left on the clock for the quarter, Earl Trimble made a 16-yard touchdown run into Springfield Catholic’s end zone; his first in his football career. Both Pendleton’s and Trimble’s touchdowns were followed up with successful PATs by Hennum, making the score 42-7 at the end of the game.
Tom Cox, the Mt’neers head coach, credited the win to the team putting in some serious effort while preparing for the game.
“I was very happy to see our players rewarded for their hard work,” he said. “We had a good week of preparation in practice and it was great to get back in the win column. We had a balanced attack of rushing (152 yards and touchdowns), passing (167 yards and three touchdowns) and special teams (one punt return for a touchdown and six out of six PATs). Defensively, we bent at times, but only gave up one score on a quarterback scramble. Catholic did a good job of keeping the ball away from us; we only ran 38 plays compared to their 57, but we made ours count, scoring six times.”

Looking ahead
While the team has much to be proud of, they still have a lot hard work ahead of them.
“The schedule gets much tougher down the stretch with games against Hollister, Marshfield and Reeds Spring,” Cox said. “Hollister thumped us last year and that left a bad taste in our mouths. They have some outstanding skilled players, and we will have to play well as a team in this one.”
Finally, Cox urged everyone to come out to the game against Hollister at Mt’neer Stadium on Friday, Oct. 7, and show their Mt’neer Spirit, while also supporting Breast Cancer Awareness, by wearing pink and green.
“It's homecoming,” he said, “and we look forward to a packed house at Mountaineer Stadium this Friday night. Wear your green but add a touch of pink for Cancer Awareness.” (photos by Steven Chapman)