POSEYVILLE — Only six teams in the state get to end the high school football season with a win. For the rest it ends with plenty of tears, hugs with coaches and teammates. The Southmont Mounties saw the greatest season in program history come to an end one game short of playing for a Class 2A State Title on Saturday when they fell to the North Posey Vikings 37-7.
For these Mounties, who end the season with a record of 8-6 and their first sectional and regional titles in school history, once the clock hit 00:00 the tears began knowing that they were so close.
The 37-7 final score doesn’t tell how close the game was for the better part of three quarters. Both defenses held firm in the opening quarter and we had a scoreless game after the first 12 minutes. Then the host Vikings found some life in the second quarter to go up 14-0 with a pair of Jed Galvin rushing touchdowns. Needing a score right before halftime, South methodically, yet quickly marched down the field and with just seven seconds left Nolan Boyer found Aaron McMasters in the back of the endzone for an eight yard score to make it 14-7 going into the locker room. A 24 yard field goal for the Vikings was all the scoring in the third as the score read 17-7 going into the final quarter.
With the Mounties getting into desperation mode a failed fourth down conversion and then a Boyer interception all but sealed the win for the Vikings in the final quarter.
While the game didn’t go as the Mounties hoped, Desson Hannum, Wyatt Woodall, and Boyer all spoke after the game how this one game wasn’t going to define this team or the success that they had this season.
“This team was special,” Hannum said. “Every once and while you have teams that come through a program that are special and there’s no doubt that this team fits that to a tee. This season and this team was built on the leadership of our seniors and I can’t say enough about them. They’ve been absolutely outstanding from the time they came in as freshman. These kids have continued to get better and show up and work. There was never a question about if they’d show up during the summer. They realized after their freshman year that they had a special group. For these guys to get here and get to the semi-state, they have nothing to be ashamed of. We were one of the final four teams in 2A and that’s all because of those seniors leading us every step of the way.”
Boyer who stepped in this season as the Mounties starting quarterback showed off his dual threat ability all season. There was a lot asked of him coming into his senior season and time after time Boyer delivered.
“If you were to tell anyone, not just us, that we would be playing for a semi-state title, they would have called you crazy,” Boyer said. “Everything we’ve put into this program is for this season that we got to have. The brotherhood and bond that this team built is like anything I’ve been a part of. Everyone talked about how we had no quit in us the entire ride and now standing here after it’s over, I can still say that. We wanted it until the very end.”
In his final season in a Mountie uniform, Woodall became just the fifth player in Montgomery County history to rush for over 3,000 yards in a career. He ends this season with 1,391 yards, 24 touchdowns and coming into the semi-state game was tied for second in the state with 185 tackles. Through a bucket of tears, Woodall put into words what this season and this team meant to him.
“We’re a group of fighters,” Woodall said of his senior teammates. “It’s a tough way to go out and not what we wanted but we have nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody thought we’d get to this point and through it all we made history. There’s going to be a lot of celebrating after we get over this one. This season was the perfect culmination of a group of guys who are super close and want to work hard. That’s all you need right there to make special things happen and we proved that this year.”
In total Southmont graduates 12 seniors. Along with Boyer and Woodall, Konnor Robertson, Maddox Cade, Kyler McCandless, Dawson Mason, Marlin Williams, Ayden Dickerson, Darek FulFord, Kasey Line, Will Cody, and Waylon Gomez all played their final game in a Mountie uniform.
Hannum closed his comments on the night by stating how this group has put their name in the history books. When people talk about Southmont football many years down the road, this 2023 team will be one that people mention as being right up there with the best in school history.
“This team has move right into the front of the conversation when people talk about the great teams that have come through Southmont,” Hannum said. “There’s the 1971 team and the teams that won three conference title, but I told our guys that they are now going to be mentioned as the first team that’s discussed. They deserve it and deserve every accolade and achievements that they’ve won because it’s a group that will be remembered forever.”
A special run, by a special team, led by a special coach. This Mountie team brought together the Montgomery County community and the Mounties can rest easy knowing that this community is proud of their run and everything they’ve accomplished.
Class 2A Semi-State Championship
North Posey 37, Southmont 7
Score By Quarter
SM 0 7 0 0 — 7
N P 0 14 3 20 — 37
Scoring Summary
2Q
NP: Jed Galvin 1 yd run, XP Good; 7:30
NP: Jed Galvin 8 yd run, XP Good; 3:13
SM: Aaron McMasters 8 yd pass from Nolan Boyer, XP Good; :07
3Q
NP: Kale Herke 24 yd FG
4Q
NP: Jed Galvin 1 yd run, XP missed; 11;57
NP: Jed Galvin 4 yd run, XP Good; 4:42
NP: Kolton Gardner 18 yd run, XP Good; 2:16
Team Stats
SM NP
Total Yds 123 262
Rushing Yds 42 210
Passing Yds 81 52
Turnovers 3 1
Penalties 4-37 3-20
Individual Stats
Rushing: SM (Wyatt Woodall 9-33, Nolan Boyer 7(-6), Cale Chadd 2-13); NP (Jed Galvin 24-87 4TD, Liam Stone 14-73, Jace Gauer 7-52, Kolton Gardner 1-18 TD)
Receiving: SM (Aaron McMasters 3-31 TD, Kyler McCandless 3-32, Wyatt Woodall 2-0, Marlin Williams 2-18); NP (Jed Galvin 3-34, Jackson Graff 2-69, Kaedyn Stewart 1-4)
Passing: SM (Nolan Boyer 10-18 81 TD INT); NP (Liam Stone 6-10 52)
