Published: October 02, 2008 09:51 am            

Terriers on tap for Mt. Vernon

By JEREMY HALL

jeremy.hall@register-news.com

CARBONDALE — It is what Mt. Vernon football coach Dan Mings calls a “social adjustment.”

His team enjoying a three-game win streak and coming off a 47-point offensive outburst at Marion, Mings called all of his program’s players — freshmen through seniors — onto J.D. Shields Memorial Stadium on Monday.

“And we just ran,” said Mings. “I told them every little thing that they were doing wrong.”

The harp session included everything from on-field performance to minor behavior issues to picking up after themselves.

“We adjusted them a little bit mentally today,” Mings said on Monday. “They need to know, no matter what you think of yourselves, somebody else is always watching you. There’s a certain responsibility you have and a certain pride that you have to have in what you do.”

Mings and his staff will try to keep Rams players somewhat grounded in the midst of a season that has taken flight. Over the last two weeks, Mt. Vernon has accumulated 62 percent of its season scoring and 57 percent of its total offense.

The Rams, 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the South Seven Conference, will look to avoid a letdown as they travel to Carbondale this week.

“Our kids have got to not think too much of themselves,” Mings said. “It will be embarrassing if we have any kind of letdown at all.”

Recent history may be the most prized learning tool employed by Mings. Mt. Vernon was beaten at Carbondale in 2004 and in its last visit two years ago needed to score in the waning moments to escape with victory.

“It’s been tight,” Mings said. “No matter how good we’ve been it’s always been a tight game down there. We’re their homecoming and they don’t like us very much.”

The Terriers (2-3, 1-1) enter Friday’s game with the South Seven’s fifth-ranked scoring offense and ranked fourth in points allowed by league teams. Carbondale defeated Centralia 14-7 in its South Seven Conference opener before falling 40-7 to Cahokia last week.

Murphysboro edged the Terriers 30-28 in Week 1 before Carbondale defeated West Paducah (Heath) Ky. 31-21 and lost to Waterloo 31-21 over the next two weeks.

Mings said he anticipates the Terriers will attempt to pass the ball against his team.

“I expect them to come out — and we haven’t seen them do this — and throw the ball,” he said. “I think that’s what they’re going to see [on film] is people having a little success on us. It’s just what I think is going to happen.”

Defensively, Mings said the Terriers are “aggressive. They’re very aggressive and they’ve got a linebacker as good as anybody we’ve seen.”

The Rams will counter with an offense that has picked up steam of late. After being shut out for four quarters at Belleville East in Week 1, Mt. Vernon has averaged 34.5 points a game in its four other games.

The Rams have gotten 10 touchdowns from senior running back Darrell Mitchell in the last three weeks while three players rushed for more than 100 yards last week at Marion.

The Rams need to win the South Seven Conference or accumulate five wins to meet their annual goal of reaching the playoffs. Mings said his team will concentrate solely on Carbondale this week.

“It’s a must-win game for us,” he said. “We have to go down there and execute. The only way we’re going to get where we need to be is to stay focused and push it forward and not let anything or anybody distract us.”

        

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