The turnover bug is bugging Tony Perkins again.

The Marion Indians committed five turnovers Saturday night in a 37-14 loss to Mount Vernon in the season opener at Thomas Park.

Turnovers hurt the Indians during their 1-and-8 campaign last year and haunted them again Saturday.

"I just don't understand the bug that we have right now. We just give things away," said Perkins.

"We had I don't know how many opportunities to stop them and we jump off-sides. We're going in for a touchdown and we drop the ball. We had turnover after turnover. It's just frustrating."

Mount Vernon, which has a talented ballclub, was happy to take advantage of the home team's generosity.

"They're a good football team, but so are we," said Perkins. "You can't win with five turnovers. You just can't."

Marion self-destructed late in the first half and helped Mount Vernon scored two touchdowns in 40 seconds for a 21-0 bulge at halftime.

Jack Cochrane scored on a 6-yard run with 44 seconds left in the half to give the Mustangs a 12-0 lead and a 2-point pass from Drew Adams to Connor Herrmann made it 14-0.

Marion promptly committed another turnover and Mount Vernon executed a hook-and-lateral play for 50 yards to the 5-yard line. The Mustangs scored on a 5-yard pass from Adams to Tommy Hook to make it 20-0. The PAT made it 21-0 at intermission.

The Indians regained their composure and got back into the ballgame in the third quarter. Kory Walsh broke loose for a 49-yard run and Owen Carstensen scored on a 14-yard run to make it 21-6. Isaak Hahn hit

Carstensen with a 2-point pass on a trick play and it was 21-8 with 6:19 left in the third quarter.

Mount Vernon countered with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Adams to Herrmann to make it 27-8. Adams found Herrmann again with a 2-point pass and it was 29-8 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.

Marion pulled within 29-14 early in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard touchdown by Walsh. The Indians were on the move again when Carstensen broke loose and nearly scored on an 18-yard run, but he fumbled at the 1-yard line and Mount Vernon took over.

If the Indians had scored on that possession, they could have pulled within one touchdown of Mount Vernon with eight minutes to play. Instead, Mount Vernon scored on a 22-yard run by Adams to make it 35-14. Adams added a 2-point conversion to make it 37-14.

"We have to get a lot better at a lot of positions," said Perkins. "Right now we're very average."

Marion was scheduled to play Mount Vernon Friday night, but the game was postponed by rain and lightning. Perkins thought the 24-hour delay hurt his club.

"They didn't prepare themselves coming into this game," he maintained. "Last night they were prepared. They looked ready to play. Today, they had Saturday off and they did not come in ready to play."

The Indians have lost nine straight games, including the final eight games of 2014. Perkins is still stuck at 104 career wins at Marion, one victory shy of tying Les Hipple for the most in school history.

Marion visits Washington (Iowa) next Friday night.