Wildcats win all the statistics except the final score, 16-15

Mount Vernon speedy ball carrier Ryan Lilleston turns the corner on the Forest Park defense Friday night for another gain. The Wildcats appeared to have everything under control but failed to close the door on the pesky Rangers and fell in the season opener on the road by a 16-15 score. Photo by Garry Beeson

By Dennis Marshall

FERDINAND, Ind. — Mount Vernon outgained Forest Park 388-214, rushed for 274 yards and forced a late punt that should have set up a winning field goal.

Instead, the Wildcats left the season-opener with a 16-15 loss on Friday, August 21, after 15 penalties for 127, two turnovers and a final field-goal operation that never got off the ground.

The physical identity first-year coach Brad Higginson has talked about since spring showed up. The discipline did not.

“I think physically we outplayed them,” Higginson said. “We just found ways to beat ourselves on the mental side that we got to get better at — making silly, costly mistakes.”

Mount Vernon struck first in the opening quarter when Johnathon Crowe kept the ball on the third progression of a pass play, got the edge, and raced 87 yards untouched for a touchdown. Wade York’s extra point made it 7-0.

Forest Park answered with a 4-yard touchdown run by Hudson King to tie the game, then took the lead on a safety when a bad snap on a punt attempt went awry. The Rangers later pushed the advantage to 16-7 on a 5-yard touchdown run by Carter Jochem.

The Wildcats responded late in the third quarter. Eastin Hall scored on a 1-yard run and then ran in the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 16-15.

Hall carried the offense most of the night. He finished with 24 carries for 185 and the late touchdown, including a 42-yard run in which he broke four tackles. Higginson called him a workhorse.

“He just ran hard,” Higginson said. “It was going to take more than one guy to stop him all night and he was physical. He had a never-say-quit mindset and he was going to get every yard he could get.”

Crowe finished 8-of-16 for 114 while contributing significantly on the ground. Higginson said the senior showed composure in his first start at quarterback after moving from wide receiver.

“Johnny played well,” Higginson said. “He did a great job of controlling his composure. A couple of those [incompletes] were throwaway balls, just protecting himself or nobody was open. So he was on target for most. We had a few drops, but at the end of the day he did what he needed to do and he made a couple big runs with his legs. I was very proud of how he played.”

The offensive line did its job up front too. Higginson said the group won its double teams and kick-out blocks often enough to get Hall one-on-one at the second level, which is where the big runs started.

The Rangers finished with 117 yards on the ground. Higginson noted the defense did a good job tackling in space and limiting explosive runs, though a pair of longer pass plays hurt. Saint Henderson matched Hall with nine tackles. Senior Clyde Sharber had seven. Junior Levi Jones came up with a tackle for loss on fourth-and-goal from the 3 that helped force a turnover on downs.

Still, the short fields the Wildcats did give away proved costly.

“When you fumble the ball on the 5-yard line and give them first-and-goal, that’s hard to stop,” Higginson said. “And when you give them a short field two or three times and they convert on two of them, that was the difference in the game.”

Special teams remained the most damaging phase. Beyond the safety, a late penalty on a punt return moved Mount Vernon from the Forest Park 12 back to its own 37 with 1:30 left.

The Wildcats still reached field-goal range, but the final snap never reached the holder cleanly. The kicker picked it up and tried to run as time expired.

“We had a chance to win the game in the final seconds and didn’t execute that,” Higginson said.

He called special teams the biggest eyesore of the night and took responsibility.

“I got to do better and we got to do better as a staff to prepare our guys for the special teams game. All three phases have got to be just as important.”

The Wildcats established the run, played with force up front, and stayed close enough to manufacture one final chance to win. The missing piece was not physicality. It was the ability to preserve it through the mistakes that followed.

“We have a good base there,” Higginson said. “We just got to clean up some penalties and some turnovers and some things on special teams, and it’s a whole different ballgame.”

Mount Vernon returns home this week to face Boonville.