By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
REEDS SPRING, Mo. — Longtime Mt. Vernon coach Tom Cox was cool, calm and collected at halftime as his Mountaineers trailed 21-14 to Reeds Spring with all the stakes on the line in the Big 8 East championship game.
Cox didn’t need a rah-rah speech to get his players juiced. They had plenty of motivation, especially after watching the Wolves celebrate winning a Big 8 East title on their home turf in Week 9 last season.
Mt. Vernon shook off a slow start and outscored Reeds Spring 28-6 in the second half en route to a 42-27 triumph on Friday night at Carl Langley FIeld. The win caps off an 8-1 regular season for the Mountaineers, and secured the outright Big 8 East title for Mt. Vernon.
“We didn’t play well in that first half,” Cox said. “All I said was: they haven’t stopped us. We stopped ourselves.
“But we put it together in the second half. They couldn’t stop us. We had a hard time stopping them, but man, we got some big fourth down stops in both halves. I think that was the key to the game.”
It was a sweet comeback victory for Cox and his group. While there’s a good chance both meet in the district playoffs, it marked the last regular-season game between the two conference teams as Reeds Spring is departing for the Mid-Lakes Conference next season.
“We wanted to send out all the schools that don’t want to be in the Big 8 in style,” Cox said. “I feel like we did tonight. That was a great team and this is a great victory for us.”
There was no stopping Mt. Vernon junior running back Braden Dodson in the second half. He scored on runs of 3, 3 and 7 yards to propel the Mountaineers to a 35-21 advantage.
Dodson totaled five rushing touchdowns to lead Mt. Vernon. He had a workhorse effort of 29 carries for 131 yards.
It’s safe to say he was running hard and running inspired.
“Braden is just an amazing player,” Cox said. “One of the big keys to one of the drives was that we didn’t block for him very well. He still picked up seven yards on the play and got the first down for us by himself. That was in the first half. But in the second half, our guys were finishing blocks. That made a big difference.”
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Reeds Spring senior quarterback Blandy Burall fired touchdown passes of 28, 49 and 50 yards to Chris Daniels, Nathan Mitchell and Daniels again to grab an initial seven-point lead at halftime.
Dodson accounted for the Mountaineers offense with first-half touchdown runs of 1 and 5 yards.
Mt. Vernon quarterback Gavin Johnston completed 14-of-20 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Ryder Dampf hauled in four passes for 98 yards, while Jarrett Zerby had five catches for 50 yards.
Jake Leeper added two catches for 41 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown reception to put the Mountaineers ahead by 15 with 2:53 to play in the game.
“One of the biggest plays of the game was we were running, running, running,” Cox said. “Gavin pulled it and threw it to Jake Leeper out in the left flat. If that’s an incomplete pass or something else goes wrong, that is a huge lift for them. We executed well. Jake got into the end zone and that extra touchdown was huge.”
Burall converted 26-of-43 passes for 360 yards and four touchdowns to lead Reeds Spring, which fell to 6-3.
James Dowdy caught 11 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. Daniels amassed six catches for 102 yards and two scores, while Mitchell recorded six catches for 115 yards and a touchdown.
“We made too many mistakes to beat a good team,” Wolves coach Andy McFarland said. “I was proud of our preparation. Defensively, we have to tackle better. Offensively, we got down in the red zone three times that did not result in touchdowns. That is the difference in the game. We win the game if we just finish drives. We have a lot to work on.”
Mt. Vernon’s Landon Popa made all six of his extra-point kicks, while Reeds Spring’ Miguel Campos nailed three of four.
The Mountaineers and the Wolves are in the Class 3, District 6 tournament. In next week’s quarterfinals, Mt. Vernon will have the No. 2 seed and host seventh-seeded Hollister while Reeds Spring will have the No. 3 seed and entertain sixth-seeded East Newton.
A win for both squads would set up a rematch in the semifinals in two weeks. But for now, the Mountaineers are enjoying being Big 8 East champions.
“It’s really nice, especially since all these teams are leaving,” Dodson said. “While all these teams are still here, we have the final say that we won. It feels amazing.”
