Mt. Vernon’s Joliba Brogan (30), shown here against New Castle, rushed for two touchdown in Friday’s win over Shelbyville.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
By Cameron Baker
For The Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — After starting the season off 0-4, Mt. Vernon’s season has taken a complete flip, as the squad has been able to rack up four straight Hoosier Heritage Conference wins in a row.
The sixth week of HHC play saw Mt. Vernon (4-4, 4-2) defeat Shelbyville in a 34-0 blowout victory.
After turning the ball over on downs on the first drive of the game, Mt. Vernon’s defense was pinned deep in its own territory. However, the defense was able to come up with big stops to force the Golden Bears (1-7, 0-6) to a field goal attempt. The snap on the try was muffed and Kolten Anderson returned the ball 56-yards to Shelbyville’s 17-yard line.
A couple of short rushes from Joliba Brogan set up his five-yard rushing TD, and a two-point conversion pass from Mason Meyer to Ryker Baer gave the Marauders a lead they would not look back on.
Meyer again came up with a moment of magic halfway through the second quarter after he scored off a 52-yard rush, and a 23-yard field goal from Rylan Vinard, on the cusp of halftime, gave the Marauders a 17-point lead.
Shelbyville had major problems snapping the ball on offense, as they fumbled the ball three times and had multiple false start penalties that halted any forward progress they made. When they were able to snap it cleanly, Mt. Vernon defenders were there to swarm any ball carrier.
“The defense did a great job. The Shelbyville starting quarterback was hurt, but we don’t get injury reports. Credit to them, they put their best athlete at quarterback and did a good job at keeping us off balance. We had to settle our kids down and redirect our eyes and our communication. Our defense stepped up. The No. 1 thing I’ve told our kids is that if we can keep our opponent close to zero, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win,” Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy said.
Mt. Vernon picked up where it left off coming out of halftime, as the defense got the ball on Shelbyville’s 33-yard line. Damarion Johnson found the endzone four plays later off a six-yard rush.
The Marauders momentum was slowed down on the next drive after Meyer was intercepted by Shelbyville’s Julian Eads.
The Golden Bear offense was unable to capitalize yet again. The Marauders forced another fumble shortly after, and a 34-yard rushing touchdown from Brogan capped off the blowout win for his squad.
“The reps are finally stacking up it seems. We’re playing faster and we’re doing things where all three phases of the game are coming together. We’ve moved guys around and we’ve almost got all the puzzle pieces in the right spots where we’re trying to put guys in positions that maximize their strengths. With that said, four in a row feels good,” Lidy said.
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Mt. Vernon 34, Shelbyville 0
Mt. Vernon (4-4, 4-2);8;9;10;7;-;34
Shelbyville (1-7, 0-6);0;0;0;0;-0
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
MV – Joliba Brogan 5 rush (Ryker Baer pass from Mason Meyer), 4:10
2nd Quarter
MV – Meyer 52 rush (PAT failed), 6:43
MV – Rylan Vinard 23 FG, 06.0
3rd Quarter
MV- Damarion Johnson 6 rush (Vinard kick), 8:14
MV- Vinard 27 FG, 1:06
4th Quarter
MV- Brogan 34 rush (Vinard kick), 6:48
