Mt’neers fall to Seneca, 35-14, ‘got to keep working ... grinding’

Mt. Vernon football squad suffers first loss of early season, looks to host McDonald County, Friday night
The Mt. Vernon Mt’neers suffered their first loss of the season in an away game to the Seneca Indians on Friday, Sept. 6, at Tom Hodge Field, by a score of 35-14.
The Indians scored first when they made a touchdown near the end of first quarter. Their attempt at a PAT failed, making the score 6-0 at the end of the first. They gained their second touchdown near the beginning of the second quarter, which they followed up with a two-point conversion.
Near the end of the quarter, the Mt’neers made their first touchdown of the evening when Gavin Johnston completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Grayson Gann. Afterwards, Landon Popa successfully kicked the football over the goal post for a PAT, making the score 14-7 at the end of the half.
The Indians gained another touchdown about halfway through third quarter, but were unsuccessful in their attempt at a PAT, making the score 20-7.
Near the end of third quarter, Johnston completed a touchdown pass to Jarrett Zerby, but due to a call of an illegal man downfield, the touchdown was canceled out. However, Johnston threw the ball to Zerby again, this time successfully completing a 15-yard touchdown pass. Popa made another successful PAT to make the score 20-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Indians made their fourth touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion. They scored again near the end of the quarter with another touchdown and a PAT to make the final score 35-14.
Tom Cox, the Mt’neers head coach, said that while the team did a lot of things right, they also made several errors.
“We did some things well, but we made too many mistakes,” he said. “Too many penalties, number one. And we didn’t tackle very well. We didn’t block as well as we’re capable of, but Seneca has a whole lot to do with that. They had some really, I thought, great team speed and good power on their backs. When we got it to 14-7 … late in the first half, we were in really a good spot. We knew they were getting the ball back to start the second half. It was, I think, important for us to try to get a stop, keep them out of the end zone on that drive, but we ended up getting down 20-7. And we did some good things; it’s just not as consistent as I’d really like for us to be.”
Cox said the Mt’neers would take the lessons learned in the game against Seneca and work towards applying them towards future games.
“What we talked to the guys about is … failure is never fatal, and success is never final,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep working, keep grinding. We’ve asked each guy to take a look at how they played, what they could do better, and that’s exactly what we do as coaches.”
The Mt’neers return to Mt’neer Stadium on Friday, Sept. 13, where they will host the McDonald County Mustangs.