Burn Ban in Effect. All outdoor burning is prohibited in Franklin County.
The Mount Vernon Tigers began the 2026 varsity football season with a 32-18 win over the North Lamar Panthers on Thursday night.
Across Texas, high school football kicked off this weekend as teams looked for a quick start. Mount Vernon found the quickest start possible as senior Hunter Carrell took the opening kickoff of the season 88 yards for a touchdown. After a 2-point conversion, the Tigers took an 8-0 lead just 12 seconds into the new season.
The Mount Vernon defense forced a three-and-out, but the Tiger offense suffered a setback when North Lamar intercepted the ball on the first play from scrimmage and returned it for a touchdown. The extra-point attempt was blocked, but the Panthers cut into the lead, 8-6.
Tigers senior Brycen Fountain added to that lead on the next possession with a 3-yard touchdown run. Then the Mount Vernon defense put some points on the board by pushing the North Lamar offense back into the shadow of its own goalpost. On fourth down, the snap to the punter flew out of bounds, resulting in a safety and setting the score at 16-6.
The Tigers' junior quarterback, Jackson Gray, added more points with a 4-yard touchdown run and found sophomore Eli McGonagil in the end zone with a pass to convert the 2-point attempt. By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers led 24-6.
In the second quarter, Gray hooked up with junior Noah Leslie on a 41-yard pass to move the Tigers into striking distance. Four plays later, Gray tossed a beautiful pass over Fountain’s shoulder for a 30-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 32-6 after another successful 2-point conversion.
Overall, Mount Vernon head coach and athletic director Travis McClain saw positives in how his team started the season. “We showed we can produce explosive plays with multiple people. Defensively, we played well against the run throughout the course of the game,” he said.
North Lamar struggled most of the night to put together sustained offensive drives; however, near the end of the first half, the Panthers drove the ball deep into Tiger territory and scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the Mount Vernon lead to 32-12 at halftime.
In the second half, the Tigers failed to find traction on offense, largely due to three second-half turnovers that added to the early interception. “Ball security is job security. It's a fine line of emphasizing ball security and making your players nervous about turnovers,” McClain said. “We have to get back to the basics and find that balance, because eliminating those turnovers will catapult our production.”
North Lamar added another touchdown in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 32-18, but the Panthers could not get any closer thanks to the Tigers’ defensive line. “Defensive line did a good job of disrupting the backfield in the run game and getting pressure on the quarterback on any true drop-back pass plays,” McClain said.
The Tigers finished off the win and will take their 1-0 record on the road next week to New Boston to take on the Lions. The Lions are 0-1 after a 53-21 loss to New Diana on Friday night, but McClain isn’t taking them lightly. “They will have good team speed and athleticism. We will need to play sound, disciplined football consistently throughout the game,” he said.
The Tigers and Lions will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Lions Stadium in New Boston.
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