By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SENECA, Mo. — It’s no question the Seneca Indians have a rich football history.
The top-seeded Indians certainly made more history on Friday night, knocking off second-seeded Mt. Vernon 49-21 in the Class 3 District 6 championship game on Friday night at Tom Hodge Field.
The victory gave Seneca (11-0) its third straight district title, marking the program’s first three-peat since 1994-1996.
“It’s obviously awesome because there is so much that goes into that happening,” Indians coach Cody Hilburn said. “I’m in a very good place here in Seneca. I worked with some of the best assistant coaches in the state. Our kids are tremendous. They show up and work hard everyday. We have such a good community that comes out and support the kids every Friday night.”
“It feels awesome,” Seneca quarterback Gavyn Hoover said. “There was a lot of hype building up with this game. We were super excited to play. We came out and did things our way. It paid off for us.”
The Indians will play at Ava next Friday night in the state quarterfinals. The Bears (11-0) defeated Mountain Grove 45-10 in the other district final.
Against the Mountaineers, Seneca looked to get off to a fast start after starting off slow against Mt. Vernon in last year’s district championship.
Mission accomplished.
On the game’s opening drive, Hoover ran in a 12-yard touchdown to set the tone for the Indians. Seneca’s defense followed by forcing the Mountaineers to go three-and-out.
Running back Jackson Marrs scored from 10 yards out, extending the Indians’ lead to 14-0 with 5:10 to play in the first quarter.
Seneca’s defense came up big again when Blake Hurn intercepted a Gavin Johnston pass and returned it 40 yards, putting Seneca at Mount Vernon’s 9-yard line with under six minutes to go in the second quarter.
That set up Marrs’ second rushing touchdown. Then with 2:10 to play in the second quarter, the all-state running back added a 13-yard scoring plunge, stretching the Indians’ lead to 28-0.
“We needed to come out and set the tone early,” Hilburn said. “We hoped the physicality we gained from playing out of the Big 8 West would show up tonight and it did.”
As Hoover put it, “That will suck the life out of teams if you come out fast on them.”
Mt. Vernon showed signs of life. Johnston fired touchdowns of 24 and 31 yards to Jarrett Zerby late in the first half and early in the second half to trim the deficit to 14.
Seneca’s response was 21 unanswered points, with Hoover scoring on runs of 15 and 23 yards, to pull ahead 49-14. The senior put the nail in the coffin with a 57-yard touchdown strike to Morgan Vaughn with 3:27 remaining in the game.
“They have been resilient all year,” Hilburn said. “There is never any panic with this group. They care about each other. They love each other. They found a way to get it done.”
“We don’t let adversity affect us,” Hoover said. “We knew we had to respond. We played our football. We played as a team. That is what we do.”
The Mountaineers’ final scoring came when Johnston fired a 53-yard touchdown pass to Braden Dodson in the final minute of the game.
The Indians accumulated 507 yards of total offense, including 375 coming on the ground. Hoover finished with 193 yards on 17 carries while converting 6-of-12 passes for 132 yards.
Hoover totaled four touchdowns, with three coming on the ground. Marrs netted 144 yards on 25 carries with three scores, while Ethan Altic hauled in two passes for 41 yards and had two carries for 25 yards.
The Mountaineers amassed 341 yards of total offense, but were limited to just 59 yards on the ground. Johnston completed 22-of-39 passes for 223 yards with three touchdown passes.
Two went to Zerby, who had five catches for 70 yards. Jake Leeper caught seven passes for 62 yards.
Dodson, who was playing through an apparent ankle injury, had 27 yards on nine carries. He hauled in five catches for 67 yards and a score.
“Seneca is a good team,” Mt. Vernon coach Tom Cox said. “They played at a different speed than we did in the first half. I was proud of our guys for battling back. Hats off to Seneca. Cody Hilburn did a great job tonight. I think their big three stepped up.
“We had guys make plays. We could not get anything going on the ground, so it forced us to go to the air. It’s hard coming back from that much, even with how well Gavin throws it to our receivers. I’m disappointed we didn’t play better coming out of the gate.”
The Mountaineers finished 10-2 — an improvement from last year’s 8-4 season and significant jump from a 1-10 showing in 2021. Mt. Vernon will return a solid core next year with Johnston, Dodson and Zerby all returning as seniors in 2024.
“I’m proud of the guys on the season we had” Cox said. “They worked hard. One of the things that hurt was our depth, particularly on the offensive and defensive line. We had some young guys that had a good JV season. We are excited about next year.
“We are certainly disappointed for our seniors. We were hoping to get that district championship, but we are optimistic about what the future holds. It’s going to take some time to get over this hurt. I feel bad for our seniors.”
For Seneca, the tradition of allowing the seniors to paint the year on the wall indicating a new district championship continues.
“Getting to see our seniors take a turn and see them paint that up there, that’s always going to be there, it’s special,” Hilburn said.
“I can’t wait to do it with my team,” Hoover said. “Seeing all my seniors do it will be an awesome memory to have.”
