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By John Miller (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Mount Vernon, Mo. – They had Friday’s game scheduled on the calendar for some time. Ever since Mount Vernon beat Reeds Spring 30-28 in the district championship game last November, the Wolves were eager for another chance at the Mountaineers. On Friday night, they got it.
Reeds Spring snuffed out Mount Vernon’s two-point conversion try with 26.7 seconds remaining, holding off the fourth-ranked Mountaineers 27-26 on Friday night in Mount Vernon.
“I’ve been waiting for this game for a year, the whole team has,” said Wolves quarterback Blake Gronvald, who finished 4-for-9 passing for 110 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 17 times for 67 yards. “It’s a good win. We still have more weeks ahead, but it was a good solid win.”
With the game tied and less than three minutes on the clock, Reeds Spring had the football on its own 49. Gronvald spun the ball to the sideline for Cole Watson, who immediately flipped it to Seth Stamps on the hook-n-ladder. Stamps sprinted down the sideline for the go-ahead and, eventual, game-winning score.
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“We had practiced that,” Stamps said. “It was perfect. They didn’t know it was coming.”
“Their corners were playing really far back,” Gronvald said. “We saw they were triggering really hard on the run, so we saw if we ran a little hook with our wide receiver, the (defensive back) was going to shoot right on him and (Stamps) would have a seam to run. It was just a great overall play. A good call by the coaches and we executed it well.”
After the Reeds Spring touchdown, Mount Vernon (3-1) refused to go quietly. The Mountaineers got the football back with 2:15 to play from its own 32, trailing 27-20. After three incompletions, Jones fired a strike across the middle to Cale Miller for a 20-yard gain. Carson Bowman snatched a 12-yard hitch and was struck in the helmet by the defender, causing his helmet to pop off. The play resulted in a 15-yard penalty, and Mount Vernon was suddenly inside the Wolves’ 20. After a few plays got the ball to the four, Jones found Kelly Vaughn in the end zone with 26.7 seconds left, cutting the Reeds Spring lead to 27-26.
Without a reliable kicking game, Mount Vernon opted to go for two. Jones pass to the back of the end zone for Miller was broken up, and Reeds Spring escaped with a key Big 8 Conference road win.
“We had circled this week since last year,” Stamps said. “We came out and did it for each other.”
Reeds Spring 27, Mount Vernon 26
1Q
RSHS – 5:36 – Cramblett 22-yard FG
2Q
RSHS – 7:49 – Gronvald 29-yard pass to Cole Watson (Cramblett PAT)
MVHS – 3:40 – Jones 27-yard pass to Rafe Darter (2-point fail)
MVHS – 1:10 – Jones 24-yard pass to Darter (Jones to Miller)
3Q
RSHS – 11:47 – Stamps 82-yard kickoff return (Cramblett PAT)
MVHS – 9:18 – Jones 15-yard pass to Bowman (2-point fail)
4Q
RSHS – 7:59 – Cramblett 25-yard FG
RSHS – 2:25 – Gronvald to Watson to Stamps 51-yard (Cramblett PAT)
MVHS – 0:26.1 – Jones to Vaughn (2-point fail)
