It was a soggy Senior Night for the Mount Vernon Mustangs on Friday the 13th, but it was the Demons from Washington who probably wished they were at Camp Crystal Lake instead of Armstrong Field at the Martha Parsons Family Athletics Complex.
No. 5 Mount Vernon won, 65-6, and it was not even that close.
“Our offense hardly stepped on that field the entire first half,” Mount Vernon Coach Lance Pedersen said. “It was more of a defense and special teams show early in the game.”
The Mustangs returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, Jackson Hird taking the pooch kick and returning it 65 yards.
Mount Vernon also had a 52-yard kickoff return by Benny Pospisil after a safety.
“I was excited for them both,” said senior Jackson Jaspers, who lines up deep on kickoff returns. “I wish I got one of them.”
In addition to the big returns, the Mustangs and the wet weather made it almost impossible for the Demons to just punt the ball.
Nine times Washington faced fourth down Friday. The first eight times, they lined up in punt formation and tried to punt. Emphasis on tried.
Three times the Demons managed to punt. (A 26-yard average.)
Three times the Demons had a bad snap and/or fumbled the ball.
Twice the punt was blocked. Once for a safety, and the other time for a touchdown.
Finally, in the second half with the continuous clock running, and despite facing 4th-and-3 at their own 43, the Demons went for it instead of punting. That didn’t work, either.
All in all, it meant the Mustangs were working with a short field all evening. Their average starting field position on offense was the Demon 41.
Mount Vernon only ran 26 offensive plays – 16 runs and 10 passes – all night. And much of that was done by the backups.
“It was a pretty special thing to watch,” senior quarterback Joey Rhomberg said. “It was nice to watch the second- and third-teamers get some time, and watch their hard work pay off.”
Friday did show the Mount Vernon passing offense wasn’t slowed by the wet weather.
“We still were able to do the things we do best,” Rhomberg said. “We were able to throw the ball a little bit.”
Jaspers said Coach Pedersen preaches that both teams are playing in the same weather.
“We don’t like to think the weather affects us too much,” Pedersen said. “We truly believe that we could still pass the football when it is wet. We believe our entire offense is available to us.”
With all the special teams shenanigans, Mount Vernon only had 224 yards of offense. But the Mustangs led 58-0 at halftime.
Rhomberg had a 30-yard TD pass to Ethan Wood, and a 52-yard TD pass to Jase Jaspers. Rhomberg also scored on a 1-yard run. Jackson Jaspers had a fumble recovery in the end zone and Nova Lane returned a punt block 10 yards for a score. Senior Jonah Williams also had a rushing TD.
Defensively, Mount Vernon (7-1, 4-0 3AD4) dominated. Washington had zero first downs and minus-4 yards of offense at halftime. The Demons got their initial first down with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
Washington started the game with a 5-wide set and an empty backfield.
“We knew they couldn’t come in and do what they wanted to do,” Pedersen said. “We were able to adjust.
“Our defense was stellar tonight, doing some really nice things.”
Junior Cooper Hird added a fourth-quarter 64-yard TD run to cap the scoring. He finished with 76 yards rushing, and no one else had more than 13. Rhomberg finished 7-of-8 passing for 97 yards.
The win clinched a share of the Class 3A District 4 title, but a win over Keokuk (4-4, 2-2) this Friday, Oct. 20, can win the title outright and guarantee at least one more home game at Armstrong Field.
Mustangs 65, Demons 6
TEAM STATISTICS
W           MV
First downs         6             11
Rush-yds.             44-92     16-119
Cmp.-Att.-Int.     0-8-0     8-10-0
Pass yds.              0             105
Total yds.             92           224
Fum.-lost             4-2         1-0
Pen.-yds.              3-35       1-5
Punts-ave.           3-26.0   0-0.0
Washington 0 0 0 6 – 6
Mount Vernon 27 31 0 7 – 65
FIRST QUARTER
MV – Jackson Hird 65-yard kickoff return (Bennett Harp kick) 11:47
MV – Joey Rhomberg 1-yard run (Harp kick) 11:02
MV – Ethan Wood 30-yard pass from Rhomberg (Harp kick) 7:23
MV – Jonah Williams 1-yard run (kick failed) 3:32
SECOND QUARTER
MV – Jase Jaspers 52-yard pass from Rhomberg (Evan Brase pass from Rhomberg) 10:49
MV – Safety (punt blocked out of end zone) 7:52
MV – Benny Pospisil 52-yard kickoff return (Collin Crawford kick) 7:39
MV – Jackson Jasper 0-yard fumble recovery (Crawford kick) 5:08
MV – Nova Lane 10-yard fumble return off blocked punt (Crawford kick) 1:47
FOURTH QUARTER
W – Jude Carter 1-yard run (kick failed) 7:30
MV – Cooper Hird 64-yard run (Crawford kick) 5:38
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Washington: Kael Williams 19-69, Keider Gomez Valdez 4-30, Jude Carter 8-20, Alec Ulin 1-4, Logan McDole 7-(-9), Nic Stone 2-(-14). MV: Cooper Hird 5-76, Jackson Hird 3-13, Jase Jasper 1-10, Joey Rhomberg 2-10, Nova Lane 1-6, Jonah Willems 2-4, Kellen Haverback 2-0.
Passing – Washington: Logan McDole 0-7-0-0, Kael Williams 0-1-0-0. MV: Joey Rhomberg 7-8-97-0, Kellen Haverback 1-2-8-0.
Receiving – MV: Jase Jaspers 2-57, Ethan Wood 2-38, Erik Lamb 1-8, Watson Krob 1-6, Jackson Hird 1-0, Evan Brase 1-(-4).
“Our guys are still hungry and this game means a lot,” Pedersen said. “We need to make it a business trip. Go down and be ready to go.”