GREENFIELD — After a nine touchdown first half, it looked like Friday’s Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference showdown between rivals Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon would come down to the first team to reach 60 points.
A first half full of offensive fireworks was traded for defensive stops and ball-control offense.
Greenfield-Central, ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Class 4A poll and No. 10 in the Indiana Football Coaches Association 4A rankings, beat Mt. Vernon 41-35 at Myers Field Friday.
The Cougars are 3-0 for the first time since 1993. The win over the Marauders was their first over the county rival since 2017. In the last 30 years, G-C has been 2-0 four times, but each Week 3 try was thwarted by the Marauders.
Mt. Vernon, receiving votes in the AP Class 4A poll, dropped to 1-2. It was the HHC opener for both teams.
“I’m so proud of the kids and coaches. I give them all the credit,” Greenfield-Central coach Travis Nolting said. “We came in here with a mission five years ago and set a direction. The kids and coaches have committed to that direction. I’m proud of our players and coaches and efforts they’ve put in the program and getting us into the situation where we’re not the doormat anymore.”
The Marauders had one last try to continue its dominance of its county rival, but a deep pass from sophomore quarterback Luke Ertel to senior wide receiver Chris Edmonds was broken up in the end zone.
Ertel threw four touchdown passes and, unofficially, for 327 yards (23 of 38), but it couldn’t match the Cougars.
G-C scored on the opening kickoff and added four more first-half scores, two on the ground and two through the air.
After the first of three second-half, fourth-down stops by the Greenfield-Central defense, the Cougars scored on a Jake Hinton 14-yard run to take a 41-28 lead with 6:04 left in the third quarter.
It gave the Cougars a chance to use what their Wishbone offense does best, run the football.
“(Mt. Vernon) is a great team. We know who they are and what they are capable of doing,” Nolting said. “Having that little cushion of a two-score lead helped and got us in a situation where we could eat some more clock up. The defense came up in the spots when we needed to.”
Still, Mt. Vernon cut it to six points on a Ertel to Tyler Etherington 2-yard score, 41-35, with 4:29 left.
Greenfield-Central was forced to punt on its final offensive possession, giving Mt. Vernon the ball one last time deep in its own territory with just over one minute remaining in the game. The Marauders got to midfield on a 35-yard pass play from Ertel to Edmonds, and later to the G-C 44, before the last pass dropped incomplete in the end zone.
In the first half, Mt. Vernon scored three times on the first play of its possession.
Following Kirk Knecht’s 92-yard kickoff return to start the game, Mt. Vernon running back Joliba Brogan, who left the game midway in the second quarter and did not return, scored on an 82-yard run. On the Marauders next possession, following a 2-yard TD run from G-C quarterback Dallas Freeman, Ertel connected with senior receiver Tre Jones on their first play, a 68-yard strike.
There were five second-quarter touchdowns. Freeman threw a pair of touchdown passes, one to Knecht (10 yards) and another to Boston Willard (24 yards). Fullback Braylen Benavente, who rushed for 138 yards on 27 carries, had a 1-yard score.
Ertel threw two second quarter touchdowns. Edmonds had a 62-yarder. And, again, on the first play of a series, the sophomore lefty connected with Jones on a 42-yard score with 10 seconds left in the first half to cut G-C’s lead to 35-28.
Freeman threw two TDs and rushed for another. He had 152 rushing yards on 17 carries and threw for 126 on 11 of 21 accuracy.
Greenfield-Central had six touchdowns from five different players.
“With the weapons we have, the kids have bought in. There’s no selfish play,” Nolting said. “It could be somebody’s night one night and not somebody’s night the next night. We’re going to play with whatever we need to play with to win. We get Boston Willard going. We get Kirk going. You have to cover (Division-I tight end recruit) Lane Wadle, Benavente with the running.
“We have a lot of tools in the tool box and it’s nice to have a quarterback as proficient as Dallas Freeman is. He’s a great leader, coachable and I can’t say enough good things about our offensive line play tonight.”
–
Greenfield-Central 41, Mt. Vernon 35
Mt. Vernon (1-2, 0-1);14;14;0;7;-;35
Greenfield-Central (3-0, 1-0);14;21;6;0;-;41
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
GC – Kirk Knecht 92 kickoff return (Aaron Lee kick) 11:47
MV – Joliba Brogan 82 run (Rylan Vinard kick) 11:27
GC – Dallas Freeman 2 run (Lee kick) 6:52
MV – Tre Jones 68 pass from Luke Ertel (Vinard kick) 6:35
2nd Quarter
GC – Braylen Benavente 1 run (Lee kick) 9:40
GC – Knecht 10 pass from Freeman (Lee kick) 6:07
MV – Chris Edmonds 62 pass from Ertel (Vinard kick)5:23
GC – Boston Willard 24 pass from Freeman (Lee kick) 4:35
MV – Jones 42 pass from Ertel (Vinard kick) :10
3rd Quarter
GC – Jake Hinton 14 run (kick failed) 6:04
4th Quarter
MV – Tyler Etherington 2 pass from Ertel (Vinard kick) 4:29
