By Nolan Belcher and Beau Bridges
Jacket Journal Writers
The Mount Vernon High School Varsity Football Team finished the 2021 campaign with a 2-8 record, and they never gave up on each other.
The season did not go as well as the football team hoped, but there were a lot of positives, according to Coach Mike Kerr. Coach Kerr had said, “We don’t have certain goals, but every day we talk about getting better every day, overcoming adversity, becoming better teammates and people, giving full efforts every single day, and coming together as a team and I believe we did that.”
In the middle of the season, Coach Kerr and the football team went to the Barn that the Thompson family owns, and spent time together and took a break from football.
According to Coach Kerr, he believes the toughest loss of the 2021 season was the loss to Marion Harding in week one. The game was close throughout and the Jackets scored a touchdown late to only be down one, 28-27. The Jackets decided to go for two and they failed to convert on a two-point conversion.
Even after all of the tough losses throughout the 2021 season, the Jackets kept fighting to the end. In the third to last game of the season, the Jackets beat the Mansfield Madison Rams in the homecoming game by a score of 21-13. Coach Kerr says, “Being able to see the look on those kids' faces when we won that game after losing that many games in a season was a good feeling.”
Seniors Jesse Foster, Nate Stradley, Zach Mullins, and Dylan Dowell are all pursuing an opportunity to play football at the collegiate level.
“Not really from just this season but that time flies by fast, I remember thinking every year that I have time to wait to do everything but now I’m a senior, and time is quickly running out,” said senior Jesse Foster when asked what was one thing you took away from this season.
Next year Coach Kerr is expecting to have a lot of experience coming back and is excited about the upcoming freshman having a new class means new opportunities.
Junior Jack Craigo said, “The goal is to work to get better, and we want to change how the record reflects the season at the end of the year.”