FOOTBALL: Carterville stuns Du Quoin on homecoming night
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Lions' quarterback Jeff Aldridge ran for four touchdowns and Du Quoin lost on homecoming night for the first time since 1990 as Carterville knocked off the Indians 27-12 on Friday night at Van Metre Field.
"Their quarterback played an outstanding game," said Du Quoin head coach Al Martin. "He was really quick, very quick footed. I think he was the difference in the ball game, he really made a lot of plays for them."
Du Quoin fell behind 19-0 at halftime and couldn't get things going offensively until it was too late, as the Lions' option-oriented attack ate up chunks of yardage, and also chunks of game clock.
"They came out and were hitting on all cylinders, playing very well," Martin said. "I think they were better than what we had seen on film ... They executed very well and we didn't execute as well as we would have liked to."
The Indians got the ball to start the contest and things looked to be going as planned with Aaron Smith taking the handoff and cutting upfield for a quick ten yards. Seth Baxter followed with a 6-yard gain to the Indians' 36-yard line, but that's where things began to head south for the Du Quoin offense.
Sam Gossett was sacked at the 31 on the next play, and Baxter nearly broke a run on third down but fell three yards shy of a first, forcing a punt.
Running the option to perfection, Aldridge and company marched down the field with three-to-five yards on seemingly each carry of the football.
The Indians' defense, unscored upon in their previous two games, held the Lions for a fourth-and-two at the Du Quoin 38-yard line, but Aldridge's quick first step helped him break a tackle and sprint for paydirt. The kick was no good, and Carterville led 6-0 with 4:17 left in the first quarter.
A 13-yard run by Baxter and a fourth-down conversion run by Gossett got the Indians inside Lions' territory with a first down at the 48, but in going for it again on fourth-and-four, Du Quoin jumped offsides and then elected to punt.
Carterville went right back to pounding away, with three nice gains before Aldridge struck again. The quarterback found a big hole through the middle and ran 50 yards for the touchdown with 10:00 left in the half and the Indians defense struggling to make a stop.
The Du Quoin offense followed with a three-and-out, coming up short as Carterville's defensive ends continued to contain the outside. The Lions took over at their own 21-yard line looking to begin another dominating drive.
Back-to-back personal foul penalties against the Indians helped turn bad field position into good field position for Carterville, and after gains by Zach Bollman and J.D. Helton, Aldridge ran to the right side for a 6-yard touchdown with 4:10 on the clock.
"You can't win ball games like that and make the mistakes we did. We had the penalties, we made the penalties, they just executed better than what we did," said Martin.
Du Quoin began from their own 20-yard line for the third time in the half (all touchbacks), achieved one first down on a pass from Gossett to Brandon Williams, then stalled once more. The Lions were content to run out the clock after taking over with 1:08 remaining.
The Indians' defense responded in the third quarter, but still faced a 19-0 deficit as the fourth quarter began.
Finally,after taking over on their own 22-yard line late in the third, a reverse to Cayle Diggins provided a spark on offense for Du Quoin. Gossett then connected with passes to Diggins, James Williams, and Smith to give the Indians a first-and-ten at the Lions' 20-yard line. Baxter ran for 15 yards on first down, then took it in from the 5 on the next play to get the Indians on the scoreboard with 8:39 to play.
After forcing a punt on defense, Du Quoin had a shot to get back in the game taking over at their own 32 but reverted to first-half habits, failing to reach a first down.
"They did a good job defensively, we knew they were going to take some things away, and they did," Martin said. "We weren't able to capitalize on some things at times that they gave us, and you have to do that. When you get an opportunity, you have to capitalize and we didn't always capitalize."
The Lions took over at the Indians' 34-yard line, and Aldridge needed only one play to out-run everyone for his fourth touchdown with 5:23 to play.
Shane Baxter added a late 8-yard touchdown run for the Indians after both teams had put a number of clean jerseys onto the field.
"I think the kids are disappointed and I know I'm disappointed in the loss and how we played," Martin said. "We'll have to re-group in a hurry and get back on the right track come Monday."
Aldridge racked up 167 yards on his 18 carries, the Lions (3-2, 1-1) finished with 271 yards rushing as a team.
"(Carterville's offense) is similar to what Tolono Unity does with their quarterback," Martin commented. "It's a pretty good scheme, you've got to have a good athlete at quarterback who's a very good runner and they certainly have that type of athlete in Aldridge."
Du Quoin finished with 154 yards rushing, Se. Baxter led the way with 59 yards on 10 carries. Smith made 11 attempts for his 37 yards.
The Indians (3-2, 1-1) will look to rebound across the Beaucoup Creek this Friday, facing Pinckneyville (1-4, 0-2) in the Panthers' homecoming game.