Yellow Jackets strike fast, rout Zanesville 42-0 on Homecoming night

After winning two straight and facing a squad that hadn’t won all season, the Mount Vernon football team knew it needed to get off to a good start.

Mission accomplished.

The Yellow Jackets scored twice in the first six minutes of the game and rolled to a 42-0 victory over the Blue Devils during Homecoming at Energy Field.

“We got off to a great start. We were trying to balance running and passing the ball. We scored 35 in the first half,” said Mount Vernon coach Mark Weber.

The Jackets (4-2 overall, 1-0 Licking County League) took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field, scoring on a 2-yard run by Jake Hubbard.

After holding the Devils to a three-and-out, MV was handed a gift. Zanesville (0-6, 0-1) hiked the ball over the punters head and the Jackets took over at the 2-yard line. Hubbard punched in another TD and things were looking good for the Jackets.

Zanesville putting eight men in the box, the Jackets opened up the passing game and on the next possession, blew the game wide open. Quarterback Mason Richards found Landon Dawson open over the middle and Dawson raced the rest of the way for an 88-yard TD that put MV up 21-0.

Richards added two more long pass plays for TDs in the second quarter. First, he hit Bryce Kreager for a 31-yard score, then he connected with Dawson again, this time for 29 yards.

“We know to be a good football team, we’re going to have to pass the ball, especially when you’re playing opponents that stack the box. Zanesville stacked the box, because they knew we weren’t going to pass the ball a lot. If teams stack the box, you’ve got to be able to pass,” Weber said. “They came out with eight in the box, so we’re passing. It was more like what are they doing, we’ve got to combat that. If they would have left six in the box, we’re going to run. I think Dawson, Mason, the OL line was great.”

MV finished off the night with a 2-yard run by Ben Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter as the running clock did its thing.

The victory was the third in a row for the Jackets, something that hasn’t happened since they won their first four games of the 2019 season. Weber said while the Jackets have found some success, they still need to learn how to handle that success. He especially wasn’t happy with some of the sloppy penalties made by his team.

“(We had) Some penalties, clanky. We’ll get that fixed. As the guys are learning how to win and be successful, the penalty barrier is something. They’re playing with great energy, but they’re playing with, I don’t want to say too much energy, it’s not the right funneled, focused energy. It starts in practice. I wasn’t really happy with that, but the result was good. In tight games, that will catch up to you. We don’t want to create bad habits,” Weber said. “It comes with learning how to win. This senior class, prior to this season, had only won three or four varsity games. Now, we’re 4-2, how do you learn how to be a winner? How do you shake their hand, pick them up after every play, and go back to work? We’ll get there.

“Our kids are phenomenal kids. All those penalties are not a good reflection of them. Perception is reality. You’re being perceived as having all these penalties and sloppy, but you’re not. We have really good kids here at Mount Vernon. They are high academic, they work hard, so let’s not show the opposite on the field.”

Richards finished the night completing 8 of 11 passes for 200 yards and three TDs. Dawson caught four of those passes for 147 yards and two scores, while Kreager had two catches for 45 yards and a TD. Hubbard led the team in rushing with 85 yards on 12 carries with two scores.

Defensively, Luke Mullins had four solo tackles to lead MV. Cole Smith, Cash Ewers and Carter Hill each had three.