SENECA, Mo. — The Seneca Indians fell into a 14-0 hole only 5 minutes, 10 seconds into their Class 2 District 4 championship game Friday night against the Mount Vernon Mountaineers at Tom Hodge Field / Earl Campbell Stadium.
Rather than panic and depart their game plan, the Indians held Mount Vernon off the scoreboard for the final three quarters with a dominant defensive performance and their offense scored 18 unanswered points to earn a 25-21 victory over a rival they have played six times in the postseason since 2012.
Seneca, now 10-1 on the season, will host unbeaten and District 3 champion Liberty-Mountain View (11-0) in the Class 2 state quarterfinals at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19.
“We settled in,” Seneca coach Cody Hilburn said. “Credit to Coach (Matt) Crane and our defensive staff. They did some good stuff at halftime, settled us down and we came out and looked good in the second half.
“Our identity and everything we do…we’ve got to be physical in the run game so you can win games. When the temperatures drop, you’ve got to run the ball. We did that tonight, and we did a good job passing.
“It means a ton. Last year was special, but to repeat it and sustain this momentum we’ve got, it’s hard to do. Credit our kids for what they did in the offseason to get ourselves back here and find a way to win tonight.”
Down 21-7 after one quarter, the Indians cut their deficit to 21-13 at halftime after piecing together an 11-play, 87-yard scoring drive that ate 4:46 off the clock in the second quarter. Junior quarterback Gavyn Hoover connected with senior receiver Conner Ackerson three times on the drive, including a 28-yard play that set up Seneca with first-and-goal at the Mountaineer 10. Hoover capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Seneca scored all 12 points in the second half with a pair of Jackson Marrs short-yardage direct-snap TD runs on fourth-and-goal.
Marrs’ 2-yard run at 5:49 in the third made it a 21-19 score and the outstanding junior running back’s 3-yard run at 7:44 in the fourth closed out the scoring.
Defensively, Seneca held Mount Vernon to three first downs in the final three quarters and the Mountaineers’ last seven possessions resulted in punt, interception, punt, turnover-on-downs, interception, punt, and turnover-on-downs after their first three all produced touchdowns.
“We could easily have gotten out of our offensive game plan and start doing some stuff that’s not us,” Hilburn said. “We didn’t, and credit our defense for allowing that not to happen. They allowed us to stick to our game of running the football. We got ourselves back in it and found a way to win it.
“When we finally got a stop, we settled into what we were doing. We were all over the place early on. We just settled down and trusted what we’ve been taught to do. We played really well in the second half.”
The Indians started the game very shaky with bad snaps on the first two plays and a lost fumble on the second play that gave the Mountaineers the 41-yard line for the starting point of their first possession.
Two plays later, Mount Vernon sophomore quarterback Gavin Johnston broke loose for a 37-yard touchdown run.
The Indians turned it over on downs on their second possession, giving the Mountaineers an even shorter field at the Seneca 31.
Five plays later, on a fourth-and-goal, sophomore running back Braden Dodson’s 3-yard TD run made it 14-0 with 6:50 remaining in the first.
The Indians and the Mountaineers exchanged scoring drives in the latter half of the first.
Seneca’s first points came from a 34-yard touchdown pass from Hoover to fellow junior Ethan Altic at 5:04.
Mount Vernon (8-4) then put together a 9-play, 98-yard scoring drive in 3:16, highlighted by a Cody Downing 27-yard first-down run and a 43-yard first-down pass from Johnston to junior receiver Layton Pendleton.
Seneca’s performance in the final three quarters called to mind the Indians’ 13-12 district semifinal victory last season against district top seed Aurora. In that game, Seneca trailed 12-0 at halftime and scored all 13 second-half points for a thrilling, comeback victory.
The Indians are repeat district champions, and they host a state quarterfinal for the second year in a row.
