FORTVILLE — If you looked at recent results between Mt. Vernon and Pendleton Heights, Friday night’s outcome may have come as a surprise.
But for the Marauders and head coach Vince Lidy, it just reinforced what they already knew.
In a physical Hoosier Heritage Conference battle at Mt. Vernon High School, the Marauders (2-4, 1-3) lost 24-10 to the Arabians (4-2, 2-2). It was the first loss to their Madison County neighbors since 2018, and the first time in the last eight meetings.
“First of all, hats off to Pendleton. They played a great game, out-hit us, and made way less mistakes,” Lidy said. “On defense, we got into a slugfest and we’re not built for that right now. We’ve got to look at what we’ve got, which is not good at this point in the year. Pendleton, Greenfield, and New Pal are all sectional opponents that are going to try and run us over, so we have to figure out a way to get that stopped.”
It took until the fourth quarter, and 40-plus run attempts for Pendleton Heights to find continued success on the ground, but once they did the Mt. Vernon defense had little to no answers.
The Arabians ran for 111 of their 240 rushing yards in the fourth quarter and scored their only two offensive touchdowns for the come-from-behind victory.
In a tied game entering the fourth quarter, a worn down Mt. Vernon defense gave up a long, clock-killing touchdown drive capped off by a Dresden Roberts 9-yard run to lose the lead with four minutes remaining.
After a Luke Ertel interception on the Marauders next possession, Pendleton Heights quarterback Isaac Wilson ran in a 3-yard touchdown to seal the win.
“Individually, they were just better in the box. They were falling forward, pushing the pile and they chewed up the clock,” Lidy said. “On the touchdown run, we just got carried into the end zone. It all goes back to them just being way more physical at the point of attack.”
Mt. Vernon got on the board first on their opening drive with a Rylan Vinard 36-yard field goal but lost the lead on their next possession.
After a Pendleton Heights punt pinned the Marauders inside the 10, and a false start penalty pushed them back inside the 5, the Arabians took advantage.
On a Marauders punt out of their own end zone, Clint Miller found an opening and returned it 60 yards for the Pendleton Heights go-ahead score.
A Joliba Brogan 47-yard rushing touchdown near the end of the quarter gave the Marauders back the lead 10-7, but that would be the last time they scored, and the last time they held the lead.
On the ground, Brogan ran for 119 yards on 21 attempts but, as a team, Mt. Vernon was limited after the long 47-yard scoring run. As a team, the Marauders ran 35 times for 186 yards.
“Penalties hurt us, and we just didn’t make any plays. Their front was good, and they’re a good tackling team,” Lidy said. “We only got one big run where we split them. We knew what we were getting into and they executed better. Ten points isn’t going to win any football games.”
Six false starts, 11 total penalties, and multiple fumbled snaps set the Marauders up offensively in tough positions all night long, and two turnovers and a lack of big plays kept them off the scoreboard for the final 36 minutes.
“This has kind of been our Achilles heel all year but we’ve overcome it on offense somehow by scoring points,” Lidy said. “Tonight we couldn’t score and couldn’t capitalize on any defensive success we had. It always felt like one step forward two steps back on offense.”
The Marauders held the 10-7 lead until late in the third quarter when Pendleton Heights kicker Dominic Apo connected on a 27-yard field goal to tie things up.
With the loss, Mt. Vernon dropped to 1-3 in conference play. All three losses have come to potential sectional opponents in Pendleton Heights, Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon.
“I told our guys, you take the loss and you feel bad until 12:01. At midnight, you have to flip the switch and move onto New Castle,” Lidy said. “It is what it is and this doesn’t dictate anything with the sectional draw, but again, teams in our sectional are all physical, run the football, and stop the run. So we have to get all of that fixed sooner rather than later.”
The Marauders will look to bounce back next Friday on the road at 7 p.m. at New Castle.
–
Pendleton Heights 24, Mt. Vernon 10
Pendleton Heights (4-2, 2-2);7;0;3;14; — 24
Mt. Vernon (2-4, 1-3);10;0;0;0;—10
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
MV – Rylan Vinard 36 FG, 7:35
PH – Clint Miller 60 punt return (Apo kick), 4:50
MV – Joliba Brogan 47 run (Vinard kick), 3:18
3rd Quarter
PH – Apo 27 FG, :12
4th Quarter
PH – Dresden Roberts 9 run (Apo kick), 4:00
PH – Isaac Wilson 3 run (Apo kick), :35
