Perhaps one day there will be an Aurora and Mt. Vernon football game that doesn't come down to the wire, but that day is not today, as the host Houn' Dawgs survive on Homecoming night against the pesky Mountaineers to win 14-7.

That survival came as Aurora held Mt. Vernon out of the end zone, the three-yard line to be exact, on a fourth down play with less that three seconds on the game clock.

"There wasn't a whole lot pretty about this game," said Aurora head coach Rick Scholten after the win, "except for the final score on that scoreboard over there."

The visiting Mountaineers led in every possible category, as they more than doubled the Houn' Dawgs offensive production, 356 yards to 157. Mountaineer quarterback Alex Hausman had his best night of the season, as he rushed 24 times for 64 yards and the only Mt. Vernon score and threw for 151 yards completing 13 of 19 passes.

But, in the end, the only stat that matters is the final score, and Aurora found two ways to score.

Mt. Vernongot on the board first at the 3:01 mark of the first quarter on a 4-yard run by Hausman.

Aurora would answer that on the ensuing kickoff, as sophomore Skylar Cahill returned the kickoff 86 yards to tie the game at 7-7.

"That was huge," said Scholten. "The momentum quickly shifted right back to us."

Aurora would take its first lead with a third quarter score by senior running back William Blankenship, an 11-yard run up the middle to give the Houn's the 14-7 advantage.

Mt. Vernon would find success moving the ball up and down the field on Aurora, but the Houn' Dawg defense continued to prevail, keeping the Mountaineers out of the end zone.

"Our defense stood up again and again," Scholten commented. "We aren't always pretty but we are shut down when we need to be."

Luke Call and Daniel Redfern had 45 and 61 yards receiving, respectively for Mt. Vernon.

Aurora was paced by quarterback Josh Fronabarger's 59 yrds and junior Dylan Cullers workmanlike 33 yards, most of those in the fourth quarter to keep the clock moving.

Aurora improves to 4-3 on the season, while the Mountaineers dropped to 1-6houndawgsportsgrunge