Chris Hugo
Ryan Roddy
Section618.com
MT. VERNON – The Mt. Vernon Rams’ student section is known as the Khaos Kage, and chaos may be the best way to describe the South Seven football season.
A night that started with Centralia trying to clinch the conference championship outright, ended with a 4-way tie for the title, after the Rams ran past the Orphans 35-7 at Ken Hunt Stadium. That result along with Marion’s 40-7 win over Carbondale and Cahokia’s 56-6 win over Althoff created maximum chaos atop the South Seven as the Orphans, Rams, Wildcats and Comanches all finish 3-2 to earn a share of the conference title.
Based on the IHSA’s tiebreaker procedure to determine playoff berths, it appears the Rams will be the conference’s automatic qualifier. The 4-way tie went to the third tiebreaker, which is the fewest total points allowed in games against the other teams involved in the tie. Mt. Vernon allowed 59, Centralia 67, Cahokia 76, and Marion 77. The IHSA will post official standings Monday.
If confirmed, this would mark Mt. Vernon’s first postseason appearance since 2013.
Neither team could get anything going offensively in the first quarter as teams traded drives. The Rams’ offense found all of the scoring they needed in the second quarter beginning with an Ethan Rivera 2-yard touchdown run with 7:42 left.
Another stalled Orphan drive ended in a turnover on downs thanks to a Rams sack of Centralia quarterback Carson Green. This would ultimately set up a Fischer Davis 6-yard touchdown to stretch the Rams lead to 14-0.
Harry Rudolph, Jr. forced a fumble from Green which would set up another Ram drive ending with a score as Payton McMillen found Dazhion Baker for a 30-yard TD pass.
Mt. Vernon wasn’t done. Mylan Nettles stepped in front of a Green pass on the next drive to set up the Rams with the ball with 2:08 to play. Davis tallied another rushing TD, this one from 30 yards out to give the Rams a 27-0 halftime lead.
After a scoreless third quarter, Centralia got on the board in the fourth courtesy a 70-yard TD run by Amir Johnson set up by a Jonas Taylor fumble recovery just outside of the endzone.
The Rams countered with the final score of the game with 3:40 to play on Rivera’s 4-yard TD run for the final score of 35-7.
The Orphans will have to wait another week to try for their sixth win and a guaranteed playoff spot after their second straight loss. Centralia is now 5-3. The Orphans will host Collinsville next Friday for senior night and the regular season finale.
Mt.Vernon improves to 4-4 and will travel to Mt.Carmel next Friday to close out the regular season.