Bulldogs too much for Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ A valiant comeback effort in the fourth quarter was not enough for Du Quoin this past Friday, as the football Indians lost a heartbreaker to Harrisburg 14-12 at Van Metre field despite having their chances to tie or win the game late in the contest.
Cayle Diggins hauled in a touchdown pass from Sam Gossett with 6:35 to go, but a two-point attempt that would have knotted the score at 14-14 went through Diggins' hands and to the ground incomplete. Another late Du Quoin drive would stall at the Harrisburg 22-yard line, followed by one final gasp near midfield before the final horn.
"We had our chances," said Du Quoin head coach Al Martin. "We felt like that maybe we should have won the ball game, but (Harrisburg) made some plays."
"We knew looking at the film that they were a good football team, they also had a couple key players that hadn't played in the previous game that played (Friday night)."
The opening drive of the ball game was perhaps the Indians most impressive of the game, and definitely of the first half. The Indians' offensive line looked to be in good shape in leading Gossett on a 37-yard option run that set up a first-and-ten at the Bulldogs' 16-yard line.
After a run play to Aaron Smith and another option carry by Gossett, Seth Baxter took the handoff on third-and-short, but lost a handle on the football. Harrisburg fell on it to bring what had been a 66-yard drive to an abrupt halt.
The two defenses took over for the next fifteen minutes of play, with neither team achieving more than one first down on any possession, including four straight three-and-outs by Du Quoin's offense. The Indians also lost receiver Jonathan Boss during the second quarter due to an apparent ankle injury.
With 4:07 to go in the half, Harrisburg had begun to win the battle of field position and took over with a first down at Du Quoin's 47-yard line.
John David Rollins, Isaac Behme and Keelin Rasch, who returned after missing week one's loss to Mount Carmel, each chipped away with carries en route to second-and-seven at Du Quoin's 19.
From there, quarterback Andrew Maxam found his tight end Tyler McGowan down to the Indians' 6-yard line, and a couple plays later, Maxam pitched to Behme who took it in through the right side for the 3-yard score. The extra point made it 7-0 Harrisburg with only 32 seconds to play in the first half.
Du Quoin dodged a potential bullet on the kickoff that followed the TD, as Smith fumbled around the Du Quoin 32-yard line and the Bulldogs again pounced on the ball, seemingly for possession. However, an inadvertant whistle was the ruling on the field, and a re-kick was called for by the officials, which resulted in a far less dramatic outcome as the Indians ran the clock out after a short return.
A kickoff out of bounds gave the Bulldogs good field position to start the second half, and they wouldn't let it go to waste.
On first down from the Indians' 40-yard line, Rollins found the sideline and broke away for a 36-yard touchdown run that put Du Quoin into a 14-0 hole early in the third quarter.
"There was a stretch that they handled us a little bit," Martin commented. "That's just something we have to get better at and make stops when we have to."
Another three-and-out by the Indians' offense followed, and it would be up to the defense to make a stand to keep the score from getting worse.
With Harrisburg driving, Karson Hoffman nabbed his third interception of the young season by picking off Maxam near the red zone in Du Quoin territory and returning it all the way to the Bulldogs' 27.
"Karson is a fast kid," Martin said of the senior defensive back. "You look at him and he's really not built like a football player, but he's a competitor and he does what he can do. He's played on the defensive side as our cover corner, he's got enough experience there now that he's starting to make plays."
A nine-yard pass to Diggins from Gossett was followed by four straight carries by Baxter, helping to set up another Gossett-to-Diggins connection from four yards out to get the Indians on the scoreboard. The extra point smacked the right upright and went wide, leaving the Indians with a 14-6 defecit with 10:28 left in the ball game.
A revved-up Du Quoin defense stood strong and forced a three-and-out, and a mishandled snap on the punt attempt by McGowan left the Indians' offense deep in Harrisburg territory with 8:09 to play.
Gossett would find Diggins again, this time from 32 yards out, to cut it to 14-12 with 6:35 on the clock, but the two couldn't make good on the two-point attempt that followed.
After another big series by the defense, Du Quoin got the ball back at their own 38-yard line and again began to drive.
A pair of penalties (offensive pass interference, holding) threatened to kill the rally early, but Gossett took off for 24 yards on second-and-30 to keep hope alive for the home team.
Gossett looked for Diggins on third down but came up empty, and James Williams couldn't handle Gossett's offering on fourth down as the Indians turned it over with just over a minute to play.
The offense would get one final shot after using their timeouts on defense, but turned the ball back over to the Bulldogs after failing to achieve a first down.
"They hung in there, they made some big plays there at the end and almost made enough plays to win the ball game," Martin said.
Rollins led all ball carriers with 89 yards on the ground for the Bulldogs. For the Indians, Gossett led the way with 53 yards on 6 attempts, followed by Baxter (12-45), Smith (5-30), and Diggins (3-17). Gossett completed 7-of-14 passes for 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"We have to be sounder across the board," Martin said of his team. "Our offense has to be sounder, our defense has to be sounder, and our kicking game has to be sounder. You have to be sound in all four quarter to win big ball games like this one."
Another big ball game lurks for Du Quoin (1-1) in week three as they travel to Herrin, where they haven't won since 1998.
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