Muncie Central football shuts out Marion in dominant homecoming win
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MUNCIE — Isaiah Amerson and the Muncie Central football defense has one thing on their minds going into their homecoming game against Marion.
"Domination is the expectation for our defense," the senior defensive end said. "That's our motto."
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Expectations met.
Muncie Central treated its homecoming crowd to a 54-0 rout of Marion on Friday, Sept. 18, marking the Bearcats' first shutout against the Giants since 1994 and their largest win over their North Central Conference rival since a 56-0 victory in 1946.
The running clock was in effect for almost the entire second half as Central's defense smothered Marion's offense, only surrendering 93 total yards of offense and forcing three turnovers.
"Treat every play like it's going to be a good play," said senior receiver/linebacker Doiron Montgomery. "Stay down, don't be lackadaisical, don't have bad feet, bad technique. Good technique every time, and that's what's going to happen."
The defensive dominance started up front with the Bearcats' defensive line, particularly their defensive end duo of Amerson and junior De'Marshuwn Clemens. Both players made their presences felt throughout the evening by stopping several Marion runs in their own backfield. Clemens made nine stops, including two tackles-for-loss on the night, while Amerson finished with four tackles and two for-loss.
"I've got a lot of trust in De'Marshuwn," Amerson said. "We put in work day in, day out. We've got a lot of chemistry, and we know that we're both going to go do what we do."
Amerson had the biggest tackle of the night late in the second quarter. The majority of Marion's yardage came from one play, a 61-yard explosive run by sophomore running back Johnny Jones that looked like a surefire breakaway touchdown. However, junior Bearcat defensive back Justus Allen ran him down and made the tackle at Central's 7-yard line.
From there, Central forced Marion into a fourth-and-goal situation, and Amerson made the tackle at the 1 to keep the Giants out of the end zone. It was the closest Marion would get to a score.
"That was huge," Muncie Central coach Kyle Buresh said. "That's important, right? We talk about no quit, never stop, and you've got to make a touchdown-saving tackle there to give us another fresh set of downs right there. That's what we were able to do, and we're able to bow up and get a stop."
On the other side of the ball, Central's offense put up a lot of points very quickly. The Bearcats' first three drives each ended in touchdowns and lasted a combined 11 plays.
Junior quarterback Mason Ferguson connected with junior receiver Carlos Echols Jr. for a 50-yard touchdown to open the scoring, then hit Montgomery for another 50-yard score on his next throw. For his third score, Ferguson did it himself with a 39-yard scramble.
Ferguson finished the game 7-of-11 passing for 224 yards and four touchdowns and had two carries for 46 yards and another touchdown. His four passing touchdowns went to three different receivers — two to Echols Jr., one to Montgomery and one to senior Kye Hiatt — which was indicative of his chemistry and confidence with all of his talented targets.
"I'm used to it," Ferguson said. "I've played with these guys since I was very young. I know what they can do, and they know what I can do. It's muscle memory throwing to these guys, Doiron, Carlos, Kye, it's like we know where each other are going to be. These are great teammates."
The Bearcats even dominated the game on special teams. Senior linebacker Jackson Foster blocked a punt on Marion's first drive of the third quarter, and Hiatt scored his second touchdown of the evening on a 30-yard punt return on the next Giants drive.
With a 48-0 lead, Central opted to rest its starters with the running clock in effect for the fourth quarter. The final touchdown of the evening was scored on the last play of the game — a scoop-and-score for senior defensive back Ben Walker.
It was a special night for all of the Bearcats on the field, but especially so for Montgomery. The senior had a 50-yard touchdown reception on offense, made several tackles and caught a one-handed interception on defense, and at halftime, he was named Muncie Central's 2026 homecoming king.
"Honestly, it just feels great," Montgomery said. "The whole community's here, and we've got to show out for the community. They put their trust in us, so I'm going to give my all for all of them and for my teammates."
The victory also marked the beginning of Muncie Central's NCC schedule. The Bearcats have not won the conference since 2004, but Friday night's dominant win should give them a confidence boost heading into next week's matchup at Richmond and over the next four weeks of exclusively conference play before sectionals.
"I think it shows them the level that we can continue to improve to," Buresh said. "With our guys, we've got to continue to just improve day in and day out. Continue to praise the things that we're doing really well, but then also continue to keep our thumb on the things that we've got to continue to improve upon. And then just enjoy the journey. We've got to enjoy the journey whether it's hard, easy, bad, you name it."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie Central football shuts out Marion in dominant homecoming win