Chris Hugo
Section618.com

TAYLORVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Rams knew that in order to win their season opener, they’d have a tough task in stopping Taylorville quarterback Kamren Heimsness. Heimsness and the Tornadoes did just enough to toss a 13-0 shutout over Mt. Vernon on Friday night.

Rams Coach Greg Graves referred to Heimsness as a “tremendous athlete” that “will take over the game” in his pregame interview on WMIX. Heimsness amassed 86 yards rushing and needed only 21 yards passing to lead Taylorville to a 1-0 start.

The Tornadoes scored on their opening drive, eating up 6:50 of clock, when Jackson Myers punched in a 4-yard run for a score that saw Heimsness nail the extra point.

Taylorville carried that 7-0 lead into halftime.

Neither team was able to capitalize on back-to-back turnovers in the third quarter. Mt. Vernon’s special teams came up huge in the fourth quarter, blocking Heimsness’ 27-yard field goal attempt when Caden Plummer came off of the edge and dove in front of the kick.

The score would stand at 7-0 until Heimsness ran in a 3-yard score of his own with 1:40 left in the game to seal the Rams opening week fate.

Mt. Vernon (0-1) heads to Mascoutah (1-0) in week 2 to face the Indians, who are coming off of a 42-14 thrashing of Columbia.