MOUNT VERNON — Mansfield Senior couldn’t stay out of its own way early, but once the Tygers got rolling there was no slowing them down.
Jornell Manns rushed for 256 yards and two touchdowns and Senior High overcame four first-half turnovers in a 44-17 win at Mount Vernon on Friday night.
Mansfield Senior (7-2, 4-1 Ohio Cardinal Conference) trailed the Yellow Jackets (3-6, 2-3) 10-0 midway through the first quarter before waking from its slumber. The Tygers scored the final 17 points of the first half to take a 17-10 lead at intermission. Terrance Flickinger hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Sid Caudill to tie the game at 10-10 and Manns ran 33 yards for a score to give Senior High the lead for good.
“I don’t know how many turnovers that is in (the past) two weeks, but it is an ungodly amount,” Mansfield Senior coach Chioke Bradley said. “We’ve got to get it cleaned up. That’s just the bottom line.”
The Tygers took control in the second half, outscoring the Jackets 27-7. An 8-yard Flickinger run gave Senior High grabbed a 23-10 lead before the Jackets cut it to 23-17 on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Jaxon Gregor to Kaden Daniels.
Caudill hooked up with Angelo Grose on a 10-yard scoring strike for a 31-17 margin late in the third, then found Christian Haney for a 28-yard touchdown on fourth down for a 37-17 bulge early in the fourth.
“I feel like we are good when we face adversity,” Haney said. “We just had to come out and pick it back up.”
Manns iced it with a 15-yard touchdown run with 4:36 remaining in the fourth. It was his 29th touchdown on the season. Manns has rushed for 1,103 yards and 23 TDs this fall.
“It feels good,” Manns said of eclipsing the 1,000-yard rushing plateau. “We go into games thinking we’re going to be successful (on the ground).”
Flickinger rushed for 101 yards on 20 carries, giving the Tygers a pair of 100-yard ground gainers. Caudill completed 12-of-18 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, while Haney caught five passes for 76 yards.
Ashton Fisher led the Yellow Jackets with 113 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Gregory completed 10-of-34 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. Logan Tate rushed for 81 yards and caught four passes for 76 yards.
“I thought it was a lot closer game than 44-17,” Mount Vernon coach Mike Kerr said. “Our kids played hard throughout the night.”
Mansfield Senior can clinch a playoff spot with a win over crosstown rival Madison at Arlin Field next week. The Rams (0-9) fell to Lexington 14-6 Friday.
“I do not see anything less than a knockdown, drag-out fight to the end,” Bradley said.
