Anamosa rallies past Mount Vernon, 45-42

MOUNT VERNON - A plea came up from the home bleachers in the fourth quarter:

'Stop 44!”

Couldn't do it.

Trevor Wehling rushed for 372 yards on 40 carries and scored four touchdowns as fourth-rated Anamosa rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit and outscored No. 6 Mount Vernon, 45-42, in a Class 2A District 4 football game Friday night on the Mustangs' field.

'We never lost hope,” Wehling said after the Blue Raiders improved to 7-0 overall, 5-0 in the district. 'We finally got a couple stops, and they couldn't stop us.”

Nobody really stopped anybody in this offensive showcase. Anamosa finished with 586 yards, Mount Vernon (5-2, 3-1) accumulated 507.

Ironically, it was a defensive play that turned the game in Anamosa's favor for good.

The Raiders had rallied from a 36-23 deficit with a pair of touchdowns to knot the game at 36-all. Mount Vernon started its next series at its own 16 yard-line before a pair of false-start penalties backed the Mustangs up.

Then came an intentional-grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety that put the Blue Raiders in front for good.

'(The penalties), that was first time all game I saw Mount Vernon flustered,” said Anamosa Coach Ryan Streets.

Anamosa drove for the clinching touchdown after the free kick. Kolin Schulte's 3-yard run made it 45-36, then the Mustangs cut it to 45-42 on Drew Adams' 13-yard TD pass to Connor Herrmann with 2:03 left.

Adams finished with 382 passing yards for the Mustangs, completing 22 of 34 throws for four touchdowns. Herrmann caught 11 balls for 169 yards.

The Blue Raiders recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Wehling, a fullback got most of his yardage on a play called 'Heavy Right Oklahoma Fire,” and in this case, Oklahoma was more than OK.

'Coach said if it was working, we were going to keep doing it,” Wehling said. 'It went exactly as we had hoped.”

Mount Vernon led, 24-17, after a first half that was an exhibition of contrasting styles, both of which were wildly effective.

Adams threw three touchdowns, two to Carter Rodman (58 yards and 17 yards), and racked up 233 aerial yards. Anamosa, meanwhile, was run-centric behind Wehling.

The Mustangs took leads of 30-17 and 36-23 in the third quarter, but each time, the Blue Raiders answered.

'We knew we couldn't win the game if we didn't get a stop,” Streets said. 'But, boy, our offense was rolling.”

Both of them were. In addition to the 1,093 yards of offense, the teams combined for 54 first downs (27 apiece), one turnover (by Anamosa) and one punt (by Mount Vernon).

Anamosa steps out of district play next week for a game at Union. Mount Vernon hosts Cascade.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com