Meyer, starting for the injured Luke Ertel, ran for a touchdown and threw for another as Mount Vernon built a 25-0 lead at halftime and added a third RylanVinard field goal to complete the scoring and improve to 4-4 (3-3 Hoosier Heritage Conference).
Shelbyville suffered its fourth straight loss to drop to 3-5 (1-5 HHC) but battled to the end.
“I thought all night long all the kids played fantastic. What about the fight in these kids?” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “From start to finish, a lot of things didn’t go our way tonight. Things that were out of our control and they continued to fight and that’s what I love about this group.
“All year long, they have continued to fight and fight and fight no matter what the score was, no matter what is happening on the field and continue to fight and do what we ask them to do. I’ve got a lot of love for this group.”
The football program honored 17 seniors and support personnel before the game on Senior Night – the final regular season home game for the Golden Bears. They wrap up the schedule on Oct. 13 at Pendleton Heights (6-2, 4-2 HHC).
Shelbyville’s offense sputtered early while Meyer gained confidence under center.
After the Golden Bears’ initial drive stalled, Meyer leaned on junior running back Joliba Brogan and guided the Marauders on an 8-play drive that resulted in Vinard’s first field goal of the game from 39 yards out.
Meyer finished off Mount Vernon’s second drive with a 20-yard scoring run but his 2-point conversion run was stuffed. The first quarter ended with the Marauders leading 9-0.
Shelbyville had a chance to gain momentum early in the second quarter but a 15-play drive produced no points when Aiden Helfer-Vazquez missed a 28-yard field goal with a blustery wind cutting across McKeand Stadium.
Mt. Vernon took over at the 20 and caught the Shelbyville defense off guard which allowed Tre Jones to slip away for a long catch that resulted in an 80-yard touchdown strike that made it 15-0.
“We got caught peeking in the backfield a little bit and (Jones) went by us,” said Fitzgerald. “They made a play. That’s kind of what the game boiled down to. They made plays when plays needed to be made and, unfortunately, it seemed like every time we made a play there was a little yellow hanky on the field. We have to clean those things up.”
Shelbyville indeed was flagged for 12 penalties totaling 120 yards. Mt. Vernon was penalized 10 times in a frustrating night for both programs.
Vinard added a 27-yard field goal with 4:34 left in the first half and Brogan had a 10-yard scoring run after a short punt into a stiff wind left the Marauders with great field position.
In the second half, Shelbyville’s defense forced two punts, produced a fumble recovery and saw Vinard miss a 41-yard field goal short. And the offense produced a pair of scoring drives.
The first was an 8-play, 71-yard march punctuated by catches of 29 and 20 yards by Axel Conover and a 13-yard catch and run by Donavon Martin (photo), who is growing into a feature tailback as a sophomore.
“We’ve been talking about it for weeks. I just have to be slow and let my team make some blocks. I just have to let everything develop and then work with it,” said Martin, who ran for 132 yards on 16 carries Friday.
After three consecutive penalties on Mt. Vernon, Shelbyville quarterback Eli Chappelow reached the end zone late in the third quarter.
Following Vinard’s missed field goal on the next series, Shelbyville went 80 yards on 10 plays and Chappelow added a second touchdown run, this time from eight yards out.
Chappelow’s two-point conversion completion to Axel Conover made it 25-14 with 4:10 left.
Vinard hit a 28-yard field goal with 1:56 on the clock to complete the scoring.
Mt. Vernon rushed for 222 yards against the Golden Bears with Brogan racking up 161 yards on 21 carries.
Meyer completed 8 of 15 pass attempts for 144 yards and one touchdown.
In his final regular-season game at McKeand Stadium, Chappelow (photo) completed 8 of 17 passes for 134 yards.
Conover, also a senior, had a game-high six catches for 101 yards.
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