Friday Night Lights: The Battle of the Beaucoup Turns 79 Years Young

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ From the Du Quoin angle....By Jeff Profitt

Just one year shy of its 80th anniversary, the football version of "The Battle of The Beaucoup" renews for the 79th time Friday nigh at Van Metre Field.

Du Quoin's Indians (4-1) carry a 2-0 River-to-River Conference record into the contest, sharing first place in Mississippi Division play with Anna-Jonesboro.

The Panthers, 1-4, are 1-1 in the league after last week's 26-18 upset win over Nashville-regarded as one of the pre-season division favorites.

Kickoff is set for 7 o'clock at Van Metre Field, where Du Quoin celebrates Homecoming and Tailgate 2009 Night.

Du Quoin leads the all-time series 55-22-1 and enters the game on a 25-year win streak over PCHS, which last beat the Tribe back in 1983.

Since 1980, Du Quoin has won 27 of 29 meetings while outscoring Pinckneyville 833-180.

Last year, the Tribe won a 42-6 decision at Quillman Field.

"Pinckneyville's a very impressive team to watch on film," Indians coach Al Martin (218-44, 22nd year, 21-0 vs. Pinckneyville) said. "They have a lot of speed, good size and some excellent, excellent athletes. There's a lot to prepare for."

Building around talented sophomore quarterback Bryant Shute (5'9, 170), Pinckneyville's balanced offense rolled up nearly 360 yards in the win over Nashville. Shute threw for 159 yards and ran for 169 more.

A shifty runner with breakaway speed, Shute presents a world of problems for opposing defenses.

Solid running backs Jake Bathon (6'1, 170, sr.), Tyler Rice (6'0, 195, sr.), Ben Harris (5'10, 175, sr.) and Neil Kellerman (5'10, 170, jr.) provide plenty of ground support.

"The quarterback is fast and elusive," Martin said. "It's a lot like preparing for Pinckneyville when Ryan Rushing was the quarterback. You really have to play sound defensive football and keep him away from the big play. He' probably not as fast or as big as the Rushing boy, but he's very similiar."

Martin has also been impressed with Shute's ability to throw the ball.

Senior Nathan Morton (6'3, 180) and junior Adam Barczewski (6'2, 195) are a pair of lanky, tall and quick receivers.

Nathan Lowe (5'9, 165, sr.) is also solid.

Bathon, Harris and Kellerman are pass-catching threats out of the backfield.

Despite featuring a balanced secondary-led by returning starters Marcus Clarry, Jamor Reed and David Rose, Martin admits the Panthers can create several match-up problems for the Indians.

"They have tall receivers and kids who can really go up and get the ball," Martin said. "We aren't small in the secondary and have a lot of confidence in our kids. But the Pinckneyville kids are 6'2, 6'3 or 6'4. We will be giving up several inches at those positions."

Clarry (6'0, 160, sr.) is Du Quoin's tackle leader with 43 stops at is joined by Reed (5'9, 166, sr.), Rose (6'0, 185, sr.) and Karson Hoffman (5'11, 145, jr.) in the secondary.

Rose and Reed have combined for 65 tackles.

The rapidly-improving Indians defense expects to be at 100% strength Friday.

Sophomore Brandon Williams (6'3, 235)- a mainstay at defensive end-saw limited action in the win over Chester last week while nursing a groin injury.

Senior Jonathon Tennyson, the top Indian offensive lineman, filled in and recorded a key quarterback sack.

Junior Jeremy Jones (6'0, 277, jr.) also played well in Williams' absence.

Kenny Kabat (6'1, 191, jr.) is the other starting end.

Linebackers Evon Stollhans (5'9, 190, sr.), Jerril Holmes (5'9, 179, jr.) and senior Alex Heape (5'11, 215) came up big against the Yellowjackets.

Stolhans' pass interception in the final quarter set up a key Du Quoin touchdown.

Up front, Patrick Jones (6'0, 290, sr.) and Bryce Hamburger (6'1, 270, jr.) rank among the team tackle leaders with Hamburger recording 14 tackles in the last two weeks.

"We've gotten better each week with our defense," said Martin. "I feel like we still have plenty of room for improvement. Our kids continue to work very hard."

Du Quoin's defense will be challenged by a veteran Panther offensive line led by returning All-SIRR starters Clinton Graff (6'1, 268, jr.) and Michael Rakers (6'3, 225, sr.).

Jeff Thornton (6'2, 200, sr.) and Justin Farthing (6'3, 200, sr.) return plenty of experience, along with Dylan Martin (6'4, 220, sr.).

Pinckneyville's another very big team up front that will just come right at you and block," Martin said.

Offensively, Du Quoin's balanced attack has produced a dozen rushing touchdowns with quarterback Matt Gossett (629 yards) tossing nine scoring passes. David Gaytan has rushed for six TD's.

Friday's game is broadcast live on WDQN-AM (1580) and WXAN-FM (103.5).

From the Panther perspective.....with Doug Daniels

To say the Pinckneyville Panthers have been a second-half team so far in 2009 would be an understatement, as going into last week's game against Nashville, 56 of the team's 63 points on offense had been scored after halftime.

Perhaps that began to change in week five, as the Panthers put together a strong first half against the Hornets that enabled them to get into the win column for the first time this season.

"I was extremely proud of the kids," said head coach Tod Rushing. "We fell behind, and we fell behind in a bad way too, " referring to the fumble on offense that was taken the distance for a Nashville touchdown. "That's the kind of play that can really get you down, but we came right back down and scored and got back in the football game," he added.

That score came on a crucial 4th-and-six from the 50-yard line during the second quarter, and seemed to kickstart the Pinckneyville offense.

"I thought to myself the last thing they'll be looking for is for us to throw the bomb," Rushing said. He was right, and Shute connected with Morton for the deep touchdown. "(That play) was really big and really got us going because it wasn't just a first down, it was a touchdown."

There were so many contributors to last Friday's win it would be hard to mention them all without forgetting at least a couple. "That's the way it should be," said Rushing, "that's the way we like it to be. "A kid that wasn't even here Friday night, he was home sick, Marcus Knox, he played our scout team running back for us and ran the ball extremely hard," Rushing said. "We had to work so hard to bring him down, he really did a nice job to got us ready to tackle (Nashville's) backs."

After a battle with the flu at PCHS this week when over 150 students were sent home, things seem to be getting back to normal, and not a moment too soon, as the Panthers prepare for conference powerhouse Du Quoin this Friday.

"We're getting everybody back," Rushing said. "We've only got a couple gone today, (but) Monday we had several starters missing."

Rushing doesn't want to hear that the Indians don't appear to be quite as strong as they've been the past few years, pointing out that "they're still Du Quoin and they're still 4-1. We're going to have to be better than we were last week (to have a chance to win). It's going to take a herculean effort, we know that."

"If we come out and play like we're capable of, keep our mistakes to a minimum, and keep our effort at 100%, we feel like we can compete with anyone. As long as you keep yourself in the game, we have that big play capability, things can start to go your way, I think the kids saw that last week."

Despite the Panthers' much-talked-about losing streak against the Indians in football, Rushing insists it's still just another game on the schedule.

"We've just approached it as another game, we've played them so many times, we know what they do, they know what we do, it just comes down to execution."

Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.

at DHS as the Indians celebrate Homecoming week.