Published: November 07, 2009 01:12 am      

Mustangs break Rox

VEEDERSBURG, Ind. — Fountain Central coach Rick Malone’s gameplan was simple; keep the Rockville Rox off the scoreboard and the Mustangs would win their seventh sectional title.

Easier said than done, especially against a Rockville program that hadn’t been shut out since October 14, 2005 when the Mustangs defeated the Rox 31-0.

But the defense looked brilliant and the offense left little doubt, racking up 490 yards of offense and five touchdowns on Friday in Fountain Central’s 39-0 sectional championship win.

“This is awesome,” senior receiver Zach Robertson said. “They’ve won the sectional the last I don’t know how many years. It feels good to finally shut them out. I don’t think they expected it.”

Robertson accounted for 204 of quarterback Scott Moore’s 374 passing yards and scored two touchdowns including an 81-yard reception and a 48-yard run. He also picked off a Rockville pass in the opening moments of the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

But as impressive as the Mustangs’ offense was, the defense stuffed the Rox for 72 yards of total offense (-14 rushing), backed them into two safeties and allowed only three first downs in the second half.

“We had a good game plan defensively,” Moore said. “We had a heck of a practice week defensively and offensively. We played hard. We played our butts off. We knew that we could beat them this bad.

“All year, we’ve been playing real hard but I think we stepped it up this week. We definitely answered the big-game atmosphere.”

Moore completed eight passes of 20 yards or more, including Robertson’s 81-yard touchdown, and an 84-yard strike to Tanner Pierce who made his way down the sideline for the score.

By halftime, Moore had thrown for over 200 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense had limited Rockville to 41 yards.

But the game didn’t start off as smoothly for the Mustangs (12-0). On their first play from scrimmage, Moore handed off to running back Trent Spear who attempted a pass down field that was picked off by Rockville’s James Kent. The Rox (8-4) drove 16 yards to the Fountain Central 24 yard line, but ultimately turned the ball over on downs.

Maybe the defensive effort was a result of realizing their season was on the line, or perhaps seeing the Rox No. 54 coming down with the interception jarred their memory.

The Rox ended the Mustangs’ season last year with a 29-0 shutout in the first round of the sectional, and the Fountain Central squad still hasn’t forgotten its disappointing 2008 season.

“We’ve come so far in 54 weeks,” Malone said. “Fifty-four weeks ago tonight, we got beat by Rockville. The turnaround we made was because of their hard work and commitment. My coaching staff (including three other former head coaches) is second-to-none.

“They’ve done such a fantastic job. They deserve as much of the credit as anybody because coach (Brian) Moore and coach (Brad) Smith have done a fantastic job as defensive and offensive coordinators. I’m just extremely happy and proud of what they’ve done.”

As satisfying as the sectional title might be, the Mustangs are far from settling for a sectional trophy. It’s only one step in a quest for their ultimate goal.

“We can’t be satisfied,” Moore said. “It’s good now, but tomorrow morning it starts a whole other week. We’ve got to be ready to play. We’ve got bigger goals than just the sectional.

“We’ll definitely celebrate tonight, but tomorrow morning, we’ll watch the film and figure out what we did wrong. We need to win a regional next week.”

Fountain Central will be on the road this Friday taking on Linton-Stockton (9-3).