Mount Vernon football has its back against the wall going into the final week.
No. 6 Dubuque Wahlert beat the Mustangs, 23-21, on Friday, Oct. 17, at Martha Parsons Activities Complex.
Mount Vernon (5-3, 2-2) has to win its regular-season finale Friday, Oct. 24 at Davenport Assumption (5-3, 3-1) and then might need a little help to get into the 3A playoffs.
“We’ve got to control what we can control, then see what happens,” Mount Vernon coach Brad Meester said.
In 3A, the top 2 teams in each of the six districts qualify for the playoffs (12 total). Then four more “wild card” teams across the state complete the playoff field.
“We just need our best week of practice this week, then get the ‘W,’” senior lineman Brady Weaver said.
The Mustangs have to win and then hope the tiebreakers turn in their favor, either for the District 3 runner-up spot, or one of the wild card berths.
“There are a lot of teams out there that may jump up and take spots,” Meester said. “We’re going to need some teams to lose. … We’re just going to continue to work. This group doesn’t give up.”
Mount Vernon certainly didn’t give up on Senior Night. Wahlert (6-2, 4-0) went ahead 20-7 with a touchdown drive coming out of halftime.
The Golden Eagles went 69 yards in nine plays, and capped it with a 4-yard TD run by quarterback JP Elbert.
Mount Vernon later responded with an 18-play, 99-yard drive that spanned the end of the third quarter, and beginning of the fourth quarter, that ended in an 8-yard TD pass from Kellen Haverback to junior Maddox Curran.
The drive chewed up 7 minutes, 12 seconds, and included a big fourth-and-2 conversion on a sneak by Haverback that resulted in a first down by pretty much a single link on the first-down chain.
The Mustangs had pulled within one score, 20-14, with 7:54 to play.
“We grinded it out pretty hard,” junior running back Jakob Yock said. “We just didn’t get it done. There were opportunities to get it done.”
Unfortunately, a perfectly-executed onside kick by sophomore kicker Jack Carnes didn’t end up with the Mustangs. Instead, the Golden Eagles took over at the 50-yard line.
Wahlert drove it down and had first-and-goal. Mount Vernon kept them out of the end zone, but Wahlert got a 17-yard field goal by Landen Williams to go up by two scores, 23-14, with 2:57 to play.
Haverback led the Mustangs on a quick scoring drive, connecting with senior Mikey Ryan five times for 70 yards during the 7-play, 80-yard drive. The final connection was from six yards out, and made it 23-21 with 1:35 remaining.
But the ensuing onside attempt was recovered by the Golden Eagles. Then Elbert ran for 11 yards on first down, making sure Mount Vernon couldn’t use its two remaining time outs to get the ball back.
“It is just one of those things,” Meester said. “We were close. That’s the way it bounces, sometimes.”
Haverback finished with 239 yards on 25-of-40 passing. Ryan had eight catches for 84 yards, and Yock had eight catches for 63 yards.
“That short little swing route was open,” Yock said.
But Wahlert gouged the Mustang defense for 259 rushing yards. Senior receiver Anderson Herbst led the way with 138 yards on just six carries, including an 81-yard score in the first quarter.
“The counter got us,” Meester said. “They are a good running team, and they caught us on that a few times. We missed a couple of assignments.”
After losing to Central DeWitt the week prior, it marks the first back-to-back losses for the Mustangs since 2021. Which was also the last season Mount Vernon did not make the playoffs.
“We know God has a plan for us,” Yock said. “All we can do is go out and win the next one, and hope for the best.”