4th-down magic key in top-ranked Mount Vernon’s 35-6 win over Monticello

MOUNT VERNON — They weren’t perfect, and not completely dominant.

But the Mount Vernon Mustangs were purely convertible.

Class 3A Mount Vernon converted fourth-down situations on its first four touchdown drives and handled 2A No. 7 Monticello, 35-6, in a non-district football game Friday night at First Street Stadium.

“It was a matter of us trusting the coaches, and the coaches trusting us,” said quarterback Joey Rhomberg, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another.

“A lot of teams will go for a field goal or punt the ball in those situations, but the coaches trusted us to make plays.”

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Last year’s 3A state runners-up, the Mustangs (1-0) were sharp early, scoring on three of their first four drives on their way to a 21-0 halftime advantage.

“A couple of times, I questioned whether we should go for it,” Mount Vernon Coach Lance Pedersen said. “But those were big momentum plays in terms of field position.”

Big momentum plays in terms of points, too.

Rhomberg clicked from the first snap, connecting with Ethan Wood for 32 yards. He was 4-for-4 on the first drive, including a 7-yard pass to Jase Jaspers on fourth-and-6. He scored on a 1-yard sneak on the following play to cap an eight-play, 53-yard march.

Monticello (0-1) went three-and-out on the next drive, and a long punt return put the Mustangs in business at the Panthers 13.

On fourth-and-goal from the 4, Rhomberg located Watson Krob for the score.

“Watson made a couple of big plays for us,” Rhomberg said.

Mount Vernon made its longest scoring journey midway through the second quarter, 67 yards in six plays. Rhomberg hit Michael Ryan on first-and-goal from the 16.

That came two plays after Rhomberg’s short fourth-and-1 pass to Evan Brase turned into a 36-yard gain.

Rhomberg completed 21 of 36 passes (with two interceptions) for 258 yards. Brase caught eight passes for 109.

His Monticello counterpart, Preston Ries, was 14 of 28 for 169 yards, one TD (a 24-yarder to Peyton Schilling, which closed it to 21-6) and three interceptions.

Rhomberg’s 44-yard TD pass to Krob and Benny Pospisil’s 61-yard run closed the hosts’ scoring.

Mount Vernon is at Union Community next week; Monticello hosts Dyersville Beckman.

Mount Vernon 35, Monticello 6

At Mount Vernon

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: Monti 14, MV 17

Rushes-yards: Monti 27-108, MV 24-109

Passing yards: Monti 169, MV 258

Passing: Monti 14-28-3, MV 21-36-2

Total yards: Monti 277, MV 367

Fumbles-lost: Monti 1-0, MV 0-0

Punts-average: Monti 5-28.0, MV 3-34.0

Penalties-yards: Monti 8-69, MV 6-45

SCORING SUMMARY

Monticello 0 0 6 0 -- 6

Mount Vernon 14 7 7 7 -- 35

MV -- Joey Rhomberg 1 run (Bennett Harp kick)

MV -- Watson Krob 4 pass from Rhomberg (Harp kick)

MV -- Michael Ryan 16 pass from Rhomberg (Harp kick)

Monti -- Peyton Schilling 24 pas from Preston Ries (run failed)

MV -- Krob 44 pass from Rhomberg (Harp kick)

MV -- Benny Pospisil 61 run (Collin Crawford kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Monticello -- Conner Jordan 11-87, Preston Ries 13-19, Gatlin Wright 3-2. Mount Vernon -- Benny Pospisil 3-66, Joey Rhomberg 68-23, Cooper Hird 12-20, Jonah Williams 1-0.

Passing

Monticello -- Ries 14-28-3-169. Mount Vernon -- Rhomberg 20-35-2-251, Kellen Haverback 1-1-0-7.

Receiving

Monticello -- Peyton Schilling 8-100, Jordan 2-32, Ty Tallman 2-12, Easton Prull 1-23, Carson Lambert 1-2. Mount Vernon -- Evan Brase 8-109, Cole Thurn 4-30, Michael Ryan 3-24, Watson Krob 2-48, Ethan Wood 2-38, Jase Jaspers 2-9.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com