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By Matt Turer — @MattTurer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Columbia, MO. — After 35 years, Mt. Vernon wasn’t happy just being back in the state championship.
After 48 minutes, and despite a humbling loss in the Class 3 Show-Me-Bowl, that perspective didn’t change.
Maryville (13-2) scored 40 first-half points and ran for 372 total yards against the Mountaineers in Saturday’s state title game, winning 47-9 for the program’s fifth title and first since 2013.
“We’re hurting right now,” Mt. Vernon coach Tom Cox said. “We’ve worked really hard to get here, and we came here to win the game. And we didn’t do that today. The fact remains that we got the second-place trophy in the locker room, and nobody else has that thing but us. We’re proud to be Mountaineers.”
After dominating Eldon and Lutheran South defensively the past two weeks, Mt. Vernon (10-5) was overmatched Saturday. The Spoofhounds offensive line pushed the Mountaineers off the ball all game and opened holes for Eli Dowis and Tyler Houchin to combine for 261 rush yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries.
“We felt like we’d prepared pretty well because they run so many elements of the teams we played getting here, whether that was Eldon, Reeds Spring or Lamar,” Cox said.
“They just did a good job of getting off the ball. We got upfield too much and didn’t protect our linebackers as much as we could have. That caused us to not get the momentum offensively we needed as well.”
THE GAME SWUNG WHEN
Maryville received to open the game and was quickly forced into a 4th and 18 after losses of five and three yards and an incompletion. Mt. Vernon’s defense was rolling, but a roughing the punter call gave the Spoofhounds a first down instead of the Mountaineers taking over at their own 48. Maryville took advantage with a 66-yard scoring drive sparked by a 49-yard Dowis run.
“Unfortunately, [that penalty] looks really big,” Cox said. “But there were so many plays in the game that had negative outcomes for us that you can’t pin it on any one thing. It certainly was a momentum shift.”
Maryville went on a stretch of five straight touchdown drives off 55 yards or more to establish a 34-0 lead in the second quarter. The Spoofhounds wouldn’t be forced to punt again until the third quarter.
“[That penalty] was huge,” Maryville coach Matt Webb said. “When you’re playing at Faurot Field for a state championship, that really loosened us up mentally. It’s not the key to the game, but it was a critical early play.”
After blocking two Lutheran South punts last week, the Mountaineers special teams came into Saturday confident. That confidence may have influenced what was an all-too-aggressive block attempt.
Mt. Vernon did block a Maryville punt in the third quarter, setting up a 26-yard Jayden Buttram field goal.
“That first momentum change really got in our heads and got to us,” Mountaineers senior defensive end Cayden Heisner said. “They were good, but there’s no doubt in my mind that if we play them again I think we beat them. We weren’t on our game at all.”
NO END IN SIGHT
The Spoofhounds were unstoppable in the first half, throwing one late interception but scoring touchdowns on their five other drives. Maryville’s sixth touchdown came on a Ty Boswell interception returned 26 yards by Tate Oglesby.
Nothing worked offensively early for the Mountaineers either. Mt. Vernon was outgained 334-72 in the first half.
“We like to run the football in Maryville,” Webb said. “These kids grow up learning to run the football in youth football. It may not be the flashiest type of plays, but when you’re playing this time of year you’ve got to be able to run the football when everybody knows you’re going to run it.”
The Mountaineers were completely halted on the ground, carrying it 21 times for 31 yards.
Boswell completed 17 of 28 passes 137 yards and a touchdown but coupled that with a pair of interceptions.
“We would get some success going, then we’d get behind the chains,” Cox said. “We played from behind the chains a lot. We’ve been successful with mixing it up during this postseason run. They were doing a good job stalking Andrew [Montemayor] and rotating their coverages.”
KEEP AN EYE ON WILL
Will Boswell finished the game with 13.5 tackles and the season with 240.5. That total is the second-most in a single season in MSHSAA history.
He has 442.5 tackles over the past two seasons. With a year to play, Boswell has a good chance to break the MSHSAA career tackles record of 623.
TWO GREAT RUNS
Mt. Vernon: The Mountaineers entered the postseason with a 5-4 record before making a run to the state championship game for the first time since 1982. Mt. Vernon beat Aurora, Seneca, Reeds Spring, Eldon and Lutheran South to get here.
“We played great defense, didn’t turn it over and our special teams were stellar during that stretch,” Cox said. “Today, we turned it over, we didn’t play that well defensively and we had trouble on special teams.”
“It would’ve been super easy to just shut it down [at 5-4]. But these guys talked and decided we hadn’t played enough football, and that’s what we did. We just played football.”
“It’s been a great experience,” Robinson said. “It didn’t end like we wanted it to. But things happen. You’ve got to accept it. It’s something that’s going to stick with me the rest of my life. Playing with my brothers and making it this far and doing what we did.”
Maryville: The Spoofhounds lost regular season football games for the first time since 2011. The championship avenged a 26-17 loss to Monett in 2016.
“It’s a lot more fun to win a state championship than to lose one,” Webb said. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. Last year we felt like we didn’t play a very good second half against Monett. Most of these guys remember the feeling. A lot was said on the bus ride home from Springfield last year that we’re going to get back. And they did it.”
SCORING
Mt. Vernon 0-0-9-0 — 9
Maryville 20-20-0-7 — 47
1ST QUARTER
MARYVILLE TD — 9:28 — Eli Dowis 10 Yd Run (2 Pt Fails) — Maryville 6, Mt. Vernon 0 (7 plays, 66 yards, 2:32)
MARYVILLE TD — 5:17 — Tyler Houchin 6 Yd Run (Kick No Good) — Maryville 12, Mt. Vernon 0 (9 plays, 74 yards, 2:21)
MARYVILLE TD — 2:36 — Eli Dowis 52 Yd Run (2 Pt Good) — Maryville 20, Mt. Vernon 0 (2 plays, 57 yards, 0:40)
2ND QUARTER
MARYVILLE TD — 10:51 — Jacob Reuter 3 Yd Run (2 Pt Fails) — Maryville 26, Mt. Vernon 0 (7 plays, 63 yards, 1:51)
MARYVILLE TD — 6:59 — Eli Dois 4 Yd Run (Nic Garner Kick) — Maryville 33, Mt. Vernon 0 (8 plays, 55 yards, 2:30)
MARYVILLE TD — 2:19 — Tate Oglesby 26 Yd Interception return (Nic Garner Kick) — Maryville 40, Mt. Vernon 0
3RD QUARTER
MT. VERNON TD — 5:12 — Will Boswell 5 Yd pass from Ty Boswell (2 Pt Fails) — Maryville 40, Mt. Vernon 6 (13 plays, 64 yards, 6:28)
MT VERNON FG — 2:22 — Jayden Buttram 26 Yd Field Goal — Maryville 40, Mt. Vernon 9 (4 plays, 1 yard, 0:44)
4TH QUARTER
MARYVILLE TD — 11:41 — Jacob Reuter 3 Yd Run (Nic Garner Kick) — Maryville 47, Mt. Vernon 9 (8 plays, 63 yards, 2:36)
