Mt. Vernon head coach Vince Lidy celebrates his Marauders’ IHSAA Class 4A state title at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
FORTVILLE — In hindsight, there was some pressure to win it all this season, but Mt. Vernon football coach Vince Lidy admits those expectations came more from within than externally.
A first-year head coach after more than two decades serving as an assistant, Lidy, the son of Indiana Football Hall of Fame coach John Lidy, knew what he was walking into with the Class 4A Marauders in 2021.
Mt. Vernon was a program on the rise after three successful campaigns under former head coach Mike Kirschner, a multi-state championship mentor.
The Marauders had just won 30 games in three seasons with Kirschner at the helm, netted a first-ever regional title in 2019, reclaimed the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship in 2020 for the first time since 2012 and clinched back-to-back sectional crowns.
“We weren’t broken,” said Lidy, the 2021 Daily Reporter Hancock County Football Coach of the Year said. “I probably put the most pressure on myself. I’m sure there was pressure out there as well, but my thought was not that we have to win it all because I’m a pretty realistic guy, but my goal was to get the team better each week. You have to find a way.”
After losing to 6A Noblesville, 57-36, to start the 2021 season 0-1, Lidy and his coaching staff course corrected quickly, finding their way toward the program’s first football state championship in dominating fashion.
In 15 games, the Marauders won 14 consecutive and touched the IHSAA’s 35-point mercy-rule margin 11 times, initiating 10 running clocks as the state’s most prolific scoring offense.
Mt. Vernon only fell short of 40 points in a single game once, while the defense, steered by Lidy, posted four shutouts and two clutch performances in the regional and semistate title games to meet and exceed any Marauders’ team in program history.
“Turning the page after each game was the goal, and then, again, it’s nice when your kids can make the adjustments and execute the game plans. We went out and from the second game, we knew you had to win one before you win them all. They did a good job,” Lidy said. “The depth of our program really improved as the season went along. We had a lot of kids playing.”
The Marauders’ coaching staff’s wealth of experience and chemistry worked in unison behind the scenes, leading to the team’s 14-1 finish, third straight sectional, second outright HHC championship and a second regional in three years.
Assistant coach Chad Masters served as the glue, instructing a majority of the Marauders’ seniors through the Mt. Vernon Youth Football League. Jay Jones, Austin Lacy, Nick Clarkson, Matt Hankley, Brandon Duerksen, Greg Brewer, Zach Murphy and Pete Gorga each had a hand in every victory.
Meanwhile, offensive coordinator, Toby Jacobs had the “beautiful mind,” utilizing the Marauders wealth of talent and speed at every opportunity, especially during Mt. Vernon’s tug-of-war wins over defending 4A state champion Roncalli, 27-21, at regional and against state-ranked Evansville Memorial on historic Enlow Field, 42-28, at semistate.
“Honestly, I don’t think people realized our speed until we got into games,” Lidy said. “We weren’t the biggest team, but our kids, across the board, could run pretty well. We found ways to utilize that strength.”
That asset led to 203.0 yards passing per game, 3,045 yards overall and 34 touchdowns. The Marauders’ rushing attack amassed 3,385 yards at 225.7 per contest and 59 touchdowns. In all, the Marauders accumulated 7,439 all-purpose yards and 428.7 yards per game.
The productivity was a result of the team’s senior nucleus of standouts, including Indiana Football Coaches Association all-state selections Keagan La Belle, Gehrig Slunaker, Ashden Gentry, Ray Wells and junior all-state honoree George Burhenn, among others.
However, the finale stemmed from the start, namely the plan put in place when Lidy and Jacobs joined Kirschner’s staff in 2018 after 18 years as assistants with the Hamilton Southeastern Royals.
“When I first got here under coach Kirschner, we didn’t have the numbers. We didn’t have the luxury of kids playing just one way, but we also knew we had to find a way to get in shape and play at a high level,” Lidy said.
“For the most part, when these kids were younger, they knew they had to play both ways. They had to learn two positions because we’re not fortunate enough to have some of the numbers that a 6A school have every year, but we had some depth.”
The players had a profound work ethic as well, which helped Lidy and Jacobs finish the job after nearly winning a 5A state title at HSE in 2005.
A 5A state title standout at Castle High School in 1994 where he played for his father, a two-time state championship coach, Lidy relied on the past to map out the Marauders’ future.
Lidy took some elements from his late father, a few more aspects from hall of fame coach Mo Moriarity while he served as an assistant at Bloomington South and even more from HSE head coach Rob Cutter, another hall of famer, in addition to Scott May with the Royals.
He also incorporated his own imprint by primarily building around his players’ natural abilities and not forcing them into system designed to fail.
“All the work that you do and all you put into it, it helps you handle adversity and face things that are going to happen both good and bad. If you get hot, you have to keep it going, and when you have the seniors we had, they’ve been around those big, tough games,” Lidy said.
“I felt that as we moved through and into the regional game, especially, we knew what we were going to get, and our kids did a great job of executing our game plan. We just worked with our strength all year, and it benefited us.”
The Marauders were seasoned, much like their coach, and those past experiences of heartbreak helped the group breakthrough and avenge the past.
In 2020, Mt. Vernon lost to Roncalli, 35-14, at regional, a year after beating the Royals, 25-17. In 2019, Mt. Vernon lost to Evansville Memorial at Enlow Field, 28-3, once again at semistate.
In 2021, they handed out some payback, and they achieved the feat with nearly every player going both ways.
“Our best football players had to go out and help us and play both ways or play one way and play on special teams,” Lidy said. “We want to have our best players out there to give us a chance as a team and a program, but I also know I can’t run kids in to the ground because if you get into a four-quarter game, some of those kids may not make it whether with cramps, fatigue or something. If that happens, then you really hurt your program.”
Depth was essential, and it led to once-in-a-lifetime first season for Lidy, who was also named the HHC and IFCA Region 8 Coach of the Year.
“It was a heck of a run and when you look back there were a lot of great things to take from it. I’m trying to find ways to put some those neat little memorabilia and artifacts into our locker room and post them up so they’ll always be seen and remembered,” Lidy said. “It’s great to see all that and all the success. I grew up around it forever, and then when we got to Mt. Vernon, all of a sudden, you’re fortunate to be around a lot a great coaches and players. The compass and the needle was already pointing in the right direction.”
Now, Lidy is dedicated to maintaining the same trajectory year-in and year-out.
“You have to play to win. We were always on the gas. We had to play at our level, and we couldn’t play not to lose because then you’re going to do things you don’t want to do,” he said. “I just want to keep this program going.”
Mt. Vernon Football 2021 Accolades
2021 All-Hoosier Heritage Conference Football Team
Offense
WR: Ashden Gentry, Sr., Mt. Vernon
QB: Gehrig Slunaker, Sr., Mt. Vernon
RB: Keagan La Belle, Sr., Mt. Vernon
Defense
DL: Ray Wells, Sr., Mt. Vernon
LB: Max Hayse, Sr., Mt. Vernon
DB: George Burhenn, Jr., Mt. Vernon
HHC Coach of the Year: Vince Lidy, Mt. Vernon
2021 Indiana Football Coaches Association Academic All-State Region 8
Ashden Gentry, Mt. Vernon
Cole Herman, Mt. Vernon
Luke Hiner, Mt. Vernon
Keagan La Belle, Mt. Vernon
Gehrig Slunaker, Mt. Vernon
2021 IFCA Top-50 All-State
Keagan La Belle, Mt. Vernon
2021 IFCA Class 4A Senior All-State
OL Ray Wells, Mt. Vernon
WR Ashden Gentry, Mt. Vernon
QB Gehrig Slunaker, Mt. Vernon
2021 IFCA Class 4A Junior All-State
DB George Burhenn, Mt. Vernon
2021 IFCA Region 8 All-Stars
OL Ray Wells, Mt. Vernon
QB Gehrig Slunaker, Mt. Vernon
RB Keagan La Belle, Mt. Vernon
Coach: Vince Lidy, Mt. Vernon
