The howitzer cannon rang out three times before the Friday, Sept. 20, rivalry game between No. 3 Mount Vernon and No. 1 Solon at Spartan Stadium. Fitting.

BOOM.

Solon took the opening drive 65 yards and scored on a 2-yard touchdown run by Eddie Johnson to make it 7-0.

BOOM.

With 1:53 left in the game, Mount Vernon went 65 yards in one play, a pass from Kellen Haverback to Watson Krob for a touchdown.

BOOM.

Mount Vernon opted to go for the win, and attempted a 2-point conversion. The pass to the back of the end zone was out of bounds. Final score, 7-6.

“It was said before … if we go down and score this thing, we’re going to try and win this game,” Mount Vernon Coach Brad Meester said. “We will not back down from that decision.

“I’m okay with that. This team will be aggressive.”

Mount Vernon (3-1) went for the win. It could have elected to kick the extra point and likely force overtime, but Meester had faith in his team.

“Sometimes nights just go like that,” Krob said. “Hopefully next time we’ll finish.”

Krob injected some energy into the stadium after nearly four quarters of slug-it-out, scoreless football. Mount Vernon forced Solon (4-0) to punt the ball back to them, and took over at the Mustang 40 with 2:28 to play and no timeouts, having used all three during Solon’s last possession.

After an incompletion and a penalty, Haverback uncorked a high, deep pass to Krob near the visitor’s sideline. Krob grabbed it, then shed an arm tackle and outran his coverage to the end zone.

“Watson is one of our guys,” Haverback said. “You go to your guys. “Me and him work on those jump balls. He’s pretty athletic. I trusted him. And he went up and got it.”

After catching it and staying in bounds, Krob still had to break loose from a tackle and outrun his defender.

“I knew I was getting the ball, so I knew I had to make a play,” Krob said. “I just ran as fast as I could to score that touchdown.”

Solon called time out once they saw Mount Vernon was going for two. Haverback took the snap out of the shotgun, ran right for the run/ pass option, then threw it into the back of the end zone where Jase Jaspers grabbed it.

The pass was caught, but was ruled out of bounds. Mount Vernon kicker Bennett Harp tried an onside kick, but it was covered up by Solon senior Owen Einwalter. The game was filled with unfinished drives for the Mustangs.

Mount Vernon had an earlier touchdown catch and throw from Haverback to Krob called off by a penalty near the end of the first quarter.

Two other Mustang drives deep into Solon territory ended when a pass got thrown into coverage, tipped, batted around and intercepted by the Spartans.

“Some things didn’t go our way,” Haverback said. “But it comes down to better decision making.

“Yeah, there were a few plays we wish we could get back.”

Another Mount Vernon drive got down to the Solon 16, then was backed up and stalled out by two penalties.

“We’ve got to find ways to finish drives,” Meester Ball was 13-of-16 passing said. “We moved the ball well. We’ve just got to eliminate mistakes. It is little things. All things that are correctable.”

By contrast, after the initial touchdown drive by the Spartans, Solon never drove closer to the Mustang end zone than the MV 42-yard line. That’s nine empty drives.

Solon, the No. 1 team in 3A, finished with 219 yards and 11 first downs, compared to 230 and 17 for No. 3 Mount Vernon.

Eddie Johnson finished with 107 rushing yards on 20 carries for Solon. Tyler for 101 yards, including six for 27 to Karsyn Regennitter.

Jaspers had 88 rushing yards on 21 carries (he was over 100 yards until a fumbled snap late in the game made him lose 15 yards from his tally). Haverback was 9-of-21 passing for 123 yards and Krob had three catches for 76 yards.

Mount Vernon hosts Homecoming this Friday, Sept. 27, against Mount Pleasant (2-2) at the Martha Parsons Activities Complex. It is the first of five district games that will decide the Mustangs’ playoff fate.

“We’ve got a lot of season left,” Meester said. “We’re going to get this thing rolling. I can’t wait to see what this team can do. It’s all right there. We’ve just got to clean stuff up.”

And maybe this Mount Vernon team will get a chance to do what it missed out on last fall. A rematch against Solon in the 3A playoffs.

“We want to play this team again,” Krob said. “Hopefully get back at them.”