Mechanicsburg still perfect; Greenon suffers second straight loss

"That's when coach is really happy, I guess," said Forrest with a laugh. "I didn't expect them to tackle me in the middle of a cartwheel. I'm trying, but I'm getting older by the second."

Forrest said the whole team practiced cartwheels on Thursday.

"We had a little happy, happy, joy, joy time and did some cartwheels and somersaults and lightened the mood," he said. "I guess the kids wanted to see it again."

There is plenty of joy for the unbeaten Indians (5-0), who have outscored their opponents 226-22 at the halfway point of the regular season, but it was the opposite feeling for the Knights (3-2), who suffered their second straight loss and their first shutout loss since a 72-0 defeat at West Liberty-Salem in 2017.

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Greenon trailed 38-0 at halftime. Mechanicsburg scored its first three touchdowns on plays totalling 202 yards.

"I need to do a better job of getting our team ready," Greenon coach Josh Wooten said, "and having them understand the significance of these games against great football teams: how you have to prepare, how you have to play and play for four quarters. I'll do a better job of that."

This was the first meeting between these teams since 2003 when Mechanicsburg won 27-7. The rout started with an 80-yard touchdown run by Chayse Propst on the first possession of the game. He managed to stay in bounds after being pushed toward the sideline by a Greenon defender.

"He didn't get a good piece of me," Propst said. "I feel (the touchdown) did a pretty good job of (setting the tone)."

"Chayse started us off with a bang," Forrest said.

Mechanicsburg led 8-0 after adding a conversion run and took a 16-0 lead later in the quarter on a 63-yard touchdown catch by Colin Hartley and another conversion run.

Greenon appeared to get back in the game with a 66-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cade Rice, but a penalty nullified the score. Greenon was forced to punt but caught a break when Mechanicsburg lost a fumble driving for its third score.

Greenon couldn’t capitalize, however. Aaron Conley intercepted Rice, and moments later, Conley threw a 59-yard touchdown to Keith Bebout. Another conversion run made the score 24-0. With three big plays, Mechanicsburg took control of the game.

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"We're going to take what you give us," Forrest said. "If they want to get eight or nine guys up there really tight on the line of scrimmage to stop the running game, we're going to take advantage of it."

Mechanicsburg shut out an offense that had not scored fewer than 42 points this season and was averaging 51.8 points per game. Greenon had a shot to score in the final minute, but Mechanicsburg broke up Rice's final pass in the end zone.

"Everybody in the world told us they scored 56 on Shawnee," Forrest said, "so we thought holding them to 57 would be a good game, so we're pretty proud of that effort."