The Wolves waited too late in the night to start howling. And their long climb back against the Mountaineers came up a bit short.
The Reeds Spring Wolves entered their game against the Mt. Vernon Mountaineers as the eighth ranked team in the state. But after Reeds Spring won last year’s opening game, it was the Mountaineers who got revenge in the district semifinals with a 26-20 victory. So the big question was, who would prevail this time?
And until midway in the third quarter, it appeared it would be the home-team Mountaineers in a rout.
After an early 30-yard punt return, Mt. Vernon needed just a 14-yard hook-up from quarterback Ty Boswell to all-conference receiver Andrew Montemayor to take the lead.
Boswell, making his first varsity start at quarterback, completed 14-23 passes for 115-yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Mountaineers rushed for just 145-yards, but got a lot of help from the Wolves miscues.
Reeds Spring was plagued by penalties and turnovers. They fumbled five times, losing two while also throwing a pair of interceptions. And while they piled up a lot more offense, passing for 223-yards and rushing for 236, their mistakes ultimately cost them the game.
One fumble came when receiver Kyle Modlin was diving for an apparent touchdown in the first half, only to fumble the ball out-of-bounds in the end zone, giving the ball to Mt. Vernon.
And yet another Reeds Spring fumble on a pitch-out was picked up and taken in for a 15- yard touchdown by defensive lineman Carson Dake that put Mt. Vernon ahead 14-0.
In the final 33 seconds before the half, Boswell put up a jump ball from 14-yards out for p Chance Fenton, whose touchdown grab completed an 80-yard drive to make it 21-0 at the break.
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It was 28-0 before the Wolves started howling in the third quarter. They scored twice within a two-minute span, with a 50-yard toss from quarterback Cole Nordin to wide-open tight end Logen Plumb cutting the lead in half at 28-14.
Then on their next possession, the Wolves moved 56-yards with the key play a a 4th-and-9 pass to Plumb down to the one-yard-line, setting a touchdown that pulled them within 28-20.
But the turnover bug would again cost Reeds Spring dearly.
With the Wolves driving for the potential tying touchdown, Montemayor picked off a pass near midfield and returned it to the Reeds Spring 22-yard line. And on the next play Mt. Vernon would push their lead back to 15-points when Boswell lofted a perfect pas for Ethan Johnston, accounting for the final hard-earned 35-20 victory.
With their much higher offensive numbers and momentum in the second half, Reeds Spring actually looked like they were going to come back from that 28-point deficit. But the opening game mistakes made the difference.
“In the second half they took it to us,” said Mt Vernon head coach Tom Cox. “They made some great adjustments. But when it came right down to it our guys made the plays and we got the victory and we’re super, super happy.”
So with Mt. Vernon flipping last year’s result with a win in the opening game, the new question is will Reeds Spring be the one getting its revenge in the district semifinals like the Mountaineers did in 2016. We’ll have to wait to the post-season to see if that happens.
