Mahomet-Seymour Dominates Charleston with Explosive Start, Leading 28-0 in First 3 Minutes of Homecoming Victory
By FRED KRONER
Fans who arrived 3 ½ minutes after the opening kickoff for the Friday (Sept. 20) Mahomet-Seymour homecoming football game at Frank Dutton Field against undefeated Charleston had an unexpected surprise.
Just 194 seconds after the Apollo Conference contest had started, M-S held a 28-0 lead.
The Bulldogs’ explosive offense and a revamped special teams unit provided the early heroics.
Brock VanDeveer – a new addition to the kickoff unit – fielded the opening kick and raced 93 yards for a touchdown.
“I said over the headset as the ball was in the air, ‘right guy, right time,’” M-S coach Jon Adkins said. “Everybody got on their blocks.”
Jackson Davis, who converted 8 of 8 extra-point attempts connected on his first one after 13 seconds had elapsed.
The Bulldogs’ VanDeveer then recovered an onsides kick and Cade Ashby raced into the end zone on a 6-yard scoring scamper at the 10:46 mark of the opening quarter.
Trailing 14-0 before it had touched the ball on offense, Charleston was unable to convert a first down on its first possession and punted.
Gavin Hammerschmidt fielded the punt and rambled 73 yards for the second special teams score in the opening 2 minutes and 1 second.
“Coach (Keith) Pogue does a great job scheming things up (for the return teams),” Adkins said. “We have to make sure we’re great in all three phases of the game.
“We felt that was one thing that let us down in the close (21-13) loss to Sycamore, so we went back to work on the special teams.
“Sometimes we take for granted what we think kids know. We did a lot more teaching on special teams. We filmed it in practice and made corrections. That must be a factor for us. We leave our starters on special teams when other teams are subbing to get their starters out.
“A.J. Demos had an awesome sideline block that allowed Gavin to score.”
Charleston had another unsuccessful offensive possession and went into punt formation.
The snap went over the punter’s head and VanDeveer was in position to make a tackle 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
That led to a 15-yard scoring drive, which ended with Luke Dyer passing 7 yards to Bryson Tiefenthaler for a TD.
The time remaining on the game clock was 8:46 in the first quarter and the Bulldog lead was 28-0 while fans were still coming into the game.
“One of my assistants was on top of the press box and he looked back and said there was a long line (of fans) back to the high school,” Adkins said.
Before the first period ended, Dyer teamed up with Mason Orton for a 4-yard TD pass and Ashby recorded his second TD on a 3-yard run.
The score was 42-0 with 1:40 remaining in the opening quarter.
The IHSA mandates a running clock in the second half of games where one school has a lead of at least 40 points. The IHSA, however, allows a running clock to be used earlier than the second half if both coaches agree to it.
At the request of the Charleston coach, the running clock started with 1:40 left in the first quarter.
“Nothing good was going to come from the game moving forward,” said Adkins, who immediately consented, “and possibly one of our kids could get hurt.”
The Bulldogs soon pulled their offensive and defensive starters and the only regulars who saw the field thereafter were on either the PAT team or the kickoff unit.
“It was a good time to get our younger kids in and get them reps,” Adkins said. “Honoring them at homecoming was huge.”
Dyer finished the game completing 10 of 16 passes for 206 yards and three TDs, with the third one going to Orton on a 35-yard play.
The Bulldogs’ top rushers were Tristan Nilson (41 yards), Ashby (38 yards) and Cody Moen (24 yards). Moen scored the team’s lone second-half TD.
Hammerschmidt hauled in four passes for 100 yards. Orton had three receptions for 48 yards and Owen Seymour had one catch for 41 yards.
Charleston finished with 89 yards of total offense, 47 coming on 25 rushing plays, and 42 yards coming on four pass completions.
Despite the frequent substitutions, the game was the first this year for the Bulldogs’ defense not to allow a touchdown.
“When our starters were in there, they did exactly what we needed,” Adkins said. “They executed what they were supposed to in order to get the job done.
“I was very proud of our defense as a whole. It was an incredible job by our defense to shut down their running game.”
Henry Wagner led M-S with five tackles. He was followed by VanDeveer (four), Pierce Douglas (four), Beau Back (three), Luke Buh (three) and Ethan Esker (three).
Chase Dockham intercepted a pass and returned it 18 yards.
Buh, a freshman, and Slayton Deck, a sophomore, were first-time varsity starters at the defensive end positions. The noseguard is another freshman, Jayvon Tompkins, who has started all four games.
He was relieved by Vance Clark, who made his presence felt.
“He had a good game,” Adkins said. “There are times we’ve seen him dominate in practice. We need to see his overall consistency, but I was incredibly impressed.”
M-S (4-0) will now start a series of three consecutive road games with a trip on Friday (Sept. 20) to Taylorville.
“They are one of the best 1-3 teams I’ve ever seen,” Adkins said. “Their quarterback is a three-year starter with a great arm who runs well and has weapons around him.
“They are big and physical on both sides and run a defensive scheme we’ve never seen anyone run.”
Taylorville is coming off a narrow 14-12 loss at Mount Zion, which Adkins said, “shows how good Taylorville is.”
In the preseason, M-S and Mount Zion (seventh-ranked in Class 4A) were regarded as the Apollo Conference co-favorites.
“I feel good with how prepared we are,” Adkins added. “Hats off to our senior leadership. We know what our goals are.”In last week’s state poll, M-S football was ranked in a tie for 12th in Class 5A.
