By Isabella Squiers

The memorable Friday night lights, crowds cheering, warm hot chocolate, and the good old First Street Building greeted students of Mount Vernon High School for the homecoming football game. Mount Vernon celebrated a high scoring win over Tipton 68-8.

As the game began, the 1-3 Mustangs took the field, ready for kickoff. Tipton, 3-1,  kicked off to senior wide receiver, Detrick Vondracek. Vondracek then ran to his right and lateralled the ball to junior wide receiver Zach Baker who reversed direction and with some professional level blocking by the lineman zigzagged his way to the end zone giving Mount Vernon a quick 7-0 lead. The crowd went insane, knowing the Mustangs were there to win it.

“I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on and then all of a sudden I faceplant down on the ground from a football player running into me from excitement,” said football manager Molly Louwagie.

After the score, Mount Vernon kicked off to Tipton and managed a short return. On Tipton’s first play from scrimmage a quick-reacting linebacker Mitchell Louwagie intercepted the Tipton quarterback’s pass and scrambled 30 yards for a quick second touchdown for Mount Vernon. Only after a few seconds ticking off the clock Mount Vernon took a quick 14-0 lead without their offense stepping foot on the field. It was beginning to look like a homecoming route.

Towards the end of the first quarter, Mount Vernon kicked off to Tipton. During the return, the Tipton player was hit by several Mustangs which resulted in a fumble. Mustang Ryan Clark caught the fumble in mid-air racing 20 yards to the end zone, resulting in Mount Vernon’s fourth touchdown. Tipton couldn’t manage to get anything going offensively while Mount Vernon raced to a 34-0 lead by the first quarter.

The second quarter started where the first quarter left off with the Mustangs scoring a quick touchdown with Zach Baker running off the right end for a 50-yard touchdown making the score 40-0. Things were flowing Mount Vernon’s way. Mount Vernon managed to score two more times on runs by Zach Baker and Blake Booth to make the score 54-0 Mount Vernon at the half.

After a phenomenal halftime show featuring the Mount Vernon High School Marching Mustangs, the third quarter began with Mount Vernon kicking off to Tipton. Mount Vernon’s defense continued to dominate Tipton and they couldn’t muster any points. Mount Vernon’s offense slowed and scored a single touchdown midway through the quarter making it 61-0. During the fourth quarter put several of the second string players giving them valuable game experience, one of whom was Graham Bradbury who managed several long runs. Bradbury scored the last touchdown of the game bringing the score up to 68-0 after the extra point. Mount Vernon left with a great homecoming victory 68-8.