ASHLAND – A history-making turnaround season for the Mount Vernon football program couldn’t withstand an offensive freight train Friday night at Community Stadium.
After qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 1993 (outside of the all-in COVID campaign), the 10th-seeded Yellow Jackets lost a fumble on the game’s third offensive play against seventh-seeded Ashland.
Arrows senior quarterback Nathan Bernhard threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Killian O’Brien on the very next play and Ashland never slowed down in a 56-21 final.
The Arrows (10-1) advanced to the Division II, Region 7 quarterfinals next week against Columbus St. Francis DeSales (8-2).
Mount Vernon (6-5) headed home with a first-round exit, but with a momentous year in its back pocket. The Yellow Jackets put together just their fifth winning season since 2003 and flipped the script from last year’s 2-8 campaign.
“Eventually everybody loses,” second-year Mount Vernon head coach Mark Weber said. “When you play a really good team, sometimes you get beat.
“We have some older guys in there, but we’ve got a really young team, and tonight it showed when you’re playing a veteran team like this.”
Jackets standout senior quarterback Mason Richards broke through the line and went off and running for a 71-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 less than four minutes into the first quarter.
But the Arrows – ranked No. 9 in the final Associated Press state poll – outscored Mount Vernon 35-6 over the final 20 minutes of the first half behind Bernhard and a speedy receiving corps.
The 6-foot-6 Appalachian State commit finished the game 18-of-24 for 327 yards and a school-record-tying six touchdown passes. Bernhard added 80 yards and a score on 13 carries, giving him 48 total touchdowns for the season.
“He’s going to be right up there at the top (in the running for) Mr. Football,” Weber said. “You don’t play those kids every year.
“He’s just a class kid and that’s the type of kid you’d want your town to rally behind. We’ve seen some good runners this year but we haven’t seen passers like that.”
Ashland receiver Gabe Baith had eight catches for 163 yards and a career-high three receiving touchdowns. The senior, who also broke the AHS record for career receptions on the night (now 167), added a fourth score in the third quarter on an 87-yard kickoff return.
Meanwhile, Arrows junior receiver Killian O’Brien pulled in two touchdown catches, including a one-handed, 17-yard snag in the end zone just before halftime.
Ashland senior Braden Donatini added the hosts’ other points on a 10-yard reception from Bernhard in the third.
“(Bernhard’s) receivers were on the same page and I think that’s his leadership,” Weber said. “They want to play hard for that quarterback.
“Kudos to that kid; we love high school football and it was fun to watch him.”
After Mount Vernon senior Lane Mussard forced a Bernhard fumble that junior Cash Ewers recovered, Richards punched in a 1-yard touchdown to cut the score to 28-13 with 3:50 left in the first half.
With his two first-half scores, Richards finished his career with 28 rushing touchdowns. His 120 yards on 14 carries Friday night also put him over 1,500 rushing yards for his senior season.
Ashland’s game-leading tackler Tanner Wolfe said Richards was one of the tougher quarterbacks the Arrows had to gameplan for all season.
“He was going to take off a lot more than we had seen before (from a quarterback),” Wolfe said, “so it was just being able to stay in coverage and making sure we’re wrapping up and hitting him as hard as we can.”
Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, Ashland squeezed in two more touchdowns in the final 67 seconds of the first half on Bernhard throws to Baith and O’Brien.
That made it 42-13 at halftime and the Arrows were able to force a running clock a few minutes into the third quarter.
Mount Vernon got its final points of the season late in the third period when Richards hit Zach Busenburg for a 34-yard touchdown pass and Jackson Hite added the PAT.
Jackets running back Jake Hubbard surpassed 500 rushing yards for his freshman year, collecting 81 on 12 carries, but Mount Vernon had no answers for the Ashland onslaught.
Weber lauded the seasons of Richards and senior linebacker Luke Mullins, who this week was named the Licking County League Defensive Player of the Year.
He again led the Jackets in tackles Friday and picked up a sack of Bernhard, capping a season during which he also posted a single-game school-record 22 tackles.
“(Richards and Mullins) are great players,” Weber said. “… And they had three coaches in a matter of four years, which is crazy. They never really got to feel a four-year culture.
“They’re special players and they broke a ton of records.”
The coach said his program has plenty to build on moving forward as well.
Mount Vernon’s tie for second in the LCL Buckeye Division was its best finish in any league since 2010, and Weber said he likes the talent he’s got returning.
“It’s just a step forward, but with that comes a lot of responsibility to uphold that standard; it’s not gonna be a given,” Weber said.
“I think we’ll definitely get more kids in the hallways out, because they see something winning. But at the end of the day, the kids that show up still have to want to work hard and still have to want to put the time in.”
(Photos by Doug Haidet)
