If it really is how you finish opposed to how you start in sports, don’t tell that to Mountainside who scored 20 points in the game’s first six minutes en route to a 58-35 win over Jesuit on Friday night, Oct. 18, at Jesuit High School.
The visiting Mavericks scored on their first five possessions and amassed nearly 600 yards of total offense en route to one of, if not the biggest wins in the young program’s history.
“This is an amazing moment for the Mountainside football program,” Mountainside head coach Keanon Lowe said. “All week and in the locker room at halftime, we talked about the opportunity to play against and beat Jesuit for the first time. Every player, coach, every Mountainside football player that’s put on that helmet, the entire community, this was for them.”
Everything went right for the Mavs early. They scored on the game’s opening possession when quarterback Cade Mitchell hit receiver Jasiah Agnimel for a 47-yard touchdown just two minutes into the game; added six more when jack-of-all-trades tight end Sam Vyhlidal ran one in from eight yards out after the junior forced a fumble that Jayden Meshkov recovered four plays earlier; then, after recovering an onside kick, Sean Gerigk scored on a seven-yard run and Mountainside led 20-0 with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter.
Lowe — who starred at Jesuit as a player in the late-2000s — knew how valuable that start was, not only for his own team’s confidence, but in staving-off a Crusaders opponent which he knew had no quit in them.
“It was huge because it’s in Jesuit’s DNA to be resilient, and they’re going to keep battling,” Lowe said. “Throughout the whole game they kept punching back, and that’s what we expected. So, I’m just really proud of our guys.”
And he was right.
Jesuit cut the lead to 20-7 when Trey Cleeland connected with Grant Valley for a 34-yard score, but watched as Mountainside scored twice more on scoring runs by Vyhlidal and Reece Ballew.
The Crusaders, however, then put together a 54-yard drive near the end of the half, and when they capped a 72-yard drive with a Luke Ortner 9-yard run to open the second half, it was just 37-21 Mavericks and Jesuit had life.
From there it turned into the Jordan Hicks show.
The junior running back, who had missed the last two games with an ankle injury, went 61 yards for a score on the first play of Mountainside’s ensuing possession, and would tally a second score two possessions later.
The standout ball carrier finished with 173 yards on 14 carries, but was humble in the wake of his effort, citing his excitement, but leaning more into the play of his teammates and their role in his success.
“It felt great,” Hicks said regarding his return. “I was able to break a few, the line blocked really well, the receivers blocked really well and we were able to do what we do.”
Lowe was quite obviously pleased to have his star running back in the rotation, but spoke also to what they discovered during his absence — primarily sophomore running back, Ballew.
“We lost him (Hicks) week four and we had guys step up in his place,” Lowe said. “We kind of discovered Reece (Ballew) who’s had two really good games and had a phenomenal game tonight. When you have people go down you ask other guys to step up, but it was really great to have Jordan back.”
Ballew finished with 149 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, something that Hicks was quick to note after the game.
“It’s amazing,” Hicks said. “We brought up Reece and he’s played crazy good. We believe in next man up and he’s really stepped up and has been awesome.”
What wasn’t amazing was the Mavericks’ second-half defense.
Jesuit twice pulled within 16 points in the second half and had a ball dropped in the endzone on a fourth and goal play that could’ve pulled them within eight points in the early stages of the fourth quarter. But this game was less about what Mountainside didn’t do, and more about what they did with help from Hicks, Ballew, Mitchell, Gerigk who had 96 total yards and a touchdown, and of course Vyhlidal who simply made plays whenever and wherever they needed them.
“He’s a Swiss Army Knife,” Lowe said. “He’s going to be playing big time college football, so there’s not much to say about him. He can play any position on the field and he plays a bunch of positions for us. He was great.”
Now, with a significant win over Metro behemoth Jesuit in the rearview mirror, the path is clear between the Mavericks and the school’s first league title. But there remain games with Westview and Beaverton before that can happen, and Lowe said they’ll be taking them one game at a time.
“That’s our challenge now,” Lowe said. “After the first four weeks, we said that was our preseason, now we’re 3-0 and we’re looking to go 4-0 next week versus Westview.”
For Jesuit, Cleeland finished 260 yards and three touchdowns on 25-for-29 passing; Luke Ortner carried 15 times for 91 yards and a score; Joe Stimpson had 131 combined yards and a score; and Grant Valley caught eight balls for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Comments / 0