Southmont traveled to Lebanon Friday night looking to end the Tiger’s five game winning streak and spoil senior night. Things started well for the Mounties, but an early miscue quickly unraveled into a 40-0 Lebanon victory.
The Mounties (5-3, 2-3) won the toss and deferred to start with their defense on the field, and did they respond. Lebanon’s (5-3, 5-1) first drive was 8-plays but resulted in a punt thanks to Brady Boller’s sack of Landon Fouts on third down. Just as it looked like the Mounties had the momentum, they misplayed the punt as Hunter Crew picked up the fumble and returned it 25-yards for the Tiger touchdown
“I thought our defense came out and stuffed them early,” said Mountie head coach Desson Hannum. “Obviously, I was really happy to see them come out and get that stop. Lebanon has a high powered offense.”
“Our defense was up to the task,” he continued. “We just made a mental error.”
Lebanon head coach Jeff Smock agreed that was a turning point. “We stumbled a little out of the gate. Give South credit, they were being aggressive up front,” he said. “Our defense and special teams have been getting us started recently, and that was a good case in point.”
Lebanon scored on their next three possessions as Trevor Winkles had touchdown runs of eight and six yards on his way to a 149-yard performance on his final regular season game in front of the Lebanon faithful.
Classmate Brayton Bowen finished off the first half scoring with a 5-yard run of his own to make it 27-0 at the break.
The Mounties rushing attack was limited to just 24-yards of offense in the first half led by Carson Chadd’s seven carries for 26-yard effort.
Lebanon added two more scores in the second half thanks to quarterback Landon Fouts. The junior did it both with his arm and his legs. The first on a 10-yard scamper, and the second on a 22-yard pass to Crew.
The Mounties best drive of the second half stalled at the Lebanon 14 on a holding call. They marched 63-yards in 14-plays and a sack by senior Drew Terrill ended the Mountie threat.
Lebanon outgained the Mounties 320 to 152, including 223-yards on the ground.
“We feel like we have a really good 1-2 punch in the backfield with Trevor and Brayton,” Coach Smock said. “Both guys are seniors and have played a lot of minutes for us the last three years.”
“We’ve got good size up front,” he continued. “Our running game was really good tonight.”
The Mounties were led by Carson Chadd’s eight carries for 35-yards and Wyatt Woodall’s nine carries for 18-yards.
“I thought Carson ran the ball hard tonight and Brady Boller played well defensively,” Hannum said of the two. “Aaron McMasters came off the bench and made a big play as a freshman and had to play a lot of defense for us.”
Coach Smock was complimentary of his senior class afterwards, “They’re a great group. So many have been playing Varsity since they were sophomores. They got beat up at Roncalli in a sectional game. They’ve grown up.”
“They’ve always been a talented class and fight through adversity,” he said. “Starting off 0-3 with our schedule Is brutal up front. It would’ve been easy to fold, but I think because of our senior leadership, that wasn’t an option. We’ve dug ourselves back out of the hole and we’re playing pretty good football.”
Things don’t get easier for either team in their final tune up before Sectional. The Mounties host Tri-West and Lebanon travels to rival Western Boone.
