Mt’neer football comes from behind to beat Nevada Tigers

Mt. Vernon volleyball top seed in Class 3, District 12 Tournament held this week at Monett High School
 
The Mt. Vernon High School football team hosted Nevada on Friday, Oct. 17 and had a come-from-behind, 28-24 victory.
Nevada led 18-6 at the half, but a 15-point third quarter put the Mt’neer in front, 21-18 at the start of the fourth quarter. Mt. Vernon would trail 24-21 before scoring late in the fourth quarter to get the win.    
Hunter Dawson was 22-25 for 285 yards and two touchdowns, Hunter Conway had 46 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, Coy Felton finished the game with 189 yards and two touchdowns on 13 catches and Griffin Cordray added 33 yards on three catches with a touchdown.
“Our guys never gave up, they just kept battling,” said Mt. Vernon’s head coach Tom Cox. “We scored with a minute 14 left to take the lead and sealed the game with a strip sack with 14 seconds left. Great effort. Great victory.”
Mt. Vernon is now 4-4 on the season and will host Monett Friday night. Seneca leads the Class 3, District 6 standings with 52.28 points, followed by Cassville (39.43), Mt. Vernon (35.65), Hollister (35.06), Aurora (23.98), East Newton (21.39) and Reeds Spring (17.28).

Volleyball
The Lady Mt’neer volleyball team traveled to Branson on Thursday, Oct. 16 and came home with a hard fought five set loss, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14, 24-26 and 12-15.
Ziah Schmutz had 20 kills, 19 assists and four aces, Camryn Cornell had 16 kills and 15 digs, Averee Swillum led with 20 digs, Ruth Fish had 16 assists and 14 digs and Savannah Dampf finished with eight kills and four blocks.
“Closing out the last week of the regular season with some great competition was a really good test for us,” said Head Coach Bridgett Schmutz. “We competed at a high level and can use that moving into the postseason.”
Mt. Vernon hosted and defeated Seneca in three sets on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 25-9, 25-9 and 25-10. Fish led with 15 assists, Swillum had 12 digs and Dampf led with 11 kills and two blocks.
The Lady Mt’neers started the week with a four-set win at Carthage on Monday, Oct. 13, 25-16, 17-25, 25-22 and 25-11. Swillum led with 32 digs, Fish had 24 assists, Schmutz had 24 kills and 12 assists, Cornell finished with 16 digs and four aces, Dampf had nine kills, and three blocks and Claire Hale ended the game with 13 digs and three aces.
It was also a week of milestones as Swillum went over 1,500 career receptions; Schmutz got her 1,000-career assist and Cornell went over 200 career aces.
Mt. Vernon is 21-7-2 on the season and will play the winner of the Cassville/Aurora match in the semifinals of the Class 3, District 12 tournament in Monett tomorrow night. Mt. Vernon is the top seed in the tournament followed by Monett, East Newton, Cassville, Aurora and Seneca. The opening round of the tournament was played last night with the semifinals being played tomorrow night and the championship game scheduled for Saturday.