‘Outstanding’ defense carries Mount Vernon past Anamosa

MOUNT VERNON — On a night marred by penalties and turnovers, physicality prevailed. The Mount Vernon front stymied Anamosa at every turn and gave the offense plenty of chances to put points on the board in a 28-0 shutout Friday night.

The Mustangs (1-0) racked up 67 yards of penalties on eight flags and turned it over four times. But a defense that allowed just 8 first-half yards kept the field short and the opportunities ample.

“I thought overall our defense was outstanding tonight,” Mount Vernon coach Lance Pedersen said. “We definitely won that phase of the game. Offensively we still have some things to work out.”

The Mustangs’ first four possessions began no worse than their own 46. A three-and-out and an interception in the end zone kept things scoreless.

Beginning their third drive at the Anamosa 37, Henry Ryan ripped off a 15-yard run and Joey Rhomberg’s 11-yard pass to Caden Stimmel set the Mustangs up at the 5. Ryan took the handoff on the next snap into the end zone for a 7-0 Mount Vernon lead with 3:06 remaining in the first quarter.

Facing fourth-and-2 on their next possession, the Blue Raider defense crept up to stop the run. Ryan broke through the initial wave and sprinted by the rest for a 46-yard score.

Anamosa (0-1) found an opportunity to claw back into the game. The Blue Raiders pounced on a muffed punt at the Mount Vernon 25. With penalty problems of their own, a pair of false starts and a sack had them back at the 43, forced to launch their fifth of six first-half punts.

The Mustangs looked to start putting the game out of reach as the first half came to a close. Ryan took off for another 29 yards up the middle to put Mount Vernon deep into Blue Raider territory. On third-and-goal at the 2, the Blue Raiders got the push and met Ryan as he was receiving Rhomberg’s handoff. The resulting fumble kept the score at 14-0 going into the break.

Trying to find a spark, the Blue Raiders went for it on fourth-and-5 from their own 40. The pass was batted away at the line of scrimmage.

Rhomberg connected on all five of his passes, accounting for all 40 yards. An 11-yard strike to Brady Erickson put Mount Vernon up 21-0 with 9:09 to play in the third.

The Blue Raiders found some traction in the passing game, but never seriously threatened the end zone. A fourth-and-3 pass from the Mustang 26 fell incomplete.

Ryan added his third touchdown run with a second left on the clock, finishing with 185 yards on 22 carries.

“We got the (win),” Ryan said. “That’s a positive. But we have a lot of things to work on. We had two turnovers in the red zone, which you can’t have. We have to work on that kind of stuff because we should’ve had 14 more points on the board.”

The Mustangs travel to Solon next week.

“Tonight’s performance would not get it done next Friday,” Pedersen said. “That’s what we have seven days to work on. Our coaching staff, I’ve got great confidence in them. They’re going to do everything they can to get our guys ready for next Friday.”