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Mt. Pleasant drops Yough to stay perfect
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By Jason Black
Published: Friday, September 28, 2012, 11:33 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Through the first half of the regular season, Mt. Pleasant has been able to win because it keeps getting contributions from both the offense and defense.
Friday's game against Yough was a perfect example of how the Vikings have soared to the top of the Class AA Interstate Conference. The Vikings scored five rushing touchdowns and added two scores on defense in a 48-6 victory over Yough.
Tyler Mellors rushed for three touchdowns and 141 yards on 11 carries. Mellors had a pair of 50-yard touchdown runs and tacked on an 18-yard score late in the game. Ryan Gumbita and Taylor Allison scored on 12- and 26-yard runs.
Mt. Pleasant (5-0, 5-0), which is tied with Washington atop the conference, jumped to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. After Mellors and Gumbita hit paydirt on Mt. Pleasant's first two possessions, Joey Paul collected a fumble and raced 37 yards untouched to give the Vikings a comfortable advantage through 12 minutes.
“I thought our kids played a good first quarter and a solid second half,” Mt. Pleasant coach Bo Ruffner said. “We had a lot of contributions from everybody. Our backs and receivers made plays. And we challenged our defense at halftime, and they responded.”
Yough quarterback Tyler Donahue completed 20 of 37 passes for 174 yards. But the Cougars (2-3, 2-3) could only muster one scoring drive — a 19-play series that ended with Donahue hooking up with Ben D'Amico on a 10-yard scoring strike to make it 21-6 midway through the second.
“We thought we could throw on them,” Yough coach Mark Crovak said. “We wanted to be balanced, but their defensive line did a good job against the run.”
After Yough scored, the Vikings responded when Mellors galloped into the end zone again from midfield to make it 28-6.
Mt. Pleasant closed it out with three second-half touchdowns. Allison scored in the third quarter before Mellors found the end zone again in the fourth. Then Tim Hostettler returned an interception 48 yards for the last score of the game.
Each team recorded two interceptions. Josh Hamilton also had a pick for Mt. Pleasant. Donahue and D'Amico each had a pick for the Cougars.
“The hard work in practice has led us to 5-0,” Ruffner said. “We're happy with where we are at, but we're not satisfied.”
Jason Black is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at jblack@tribweb.com.
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