FOOTBALL: Indians wrap up 27th straight playoff appearance
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Du Quoin vaulted into a three-way tie atop the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference, Mississippi Division on Friday night, knocking off a team many were calling the best in the area by owning the time of possession battle, gaining big yardage on the ground, and limiting the opposition with stellar defensive play.
The Indians romped to a 33-13 victory over sixth-ranked (AP poll) Nashville, moving to 5-2 on the season, 3-1 in conference play. The Hornets and the Carterville Lions are also 3-1 in the Mississippi.
"We always seemed like we had something else that we could do if they took something away," said Du Quoin head coach Al Martin. "As the game went on they had to change their scheme of defense to try to stop what we were doing, and then we were able to counter with something else."
"The kids have been working very hard and improving their blocking and tackling and simple fundamentals. Then they're going out on the field and doing it Friday night. I'm really happy with the way the kids have been performing on the field."
Du Quoin ate up seven minutes and thirty-five seconds of clock with their opening drive, a 16-play, 69-yard methodical march that netted the Indians the game's first points when Sam Gossett rolled out and found Brandon Williams from six yards out. Cayle Diggins' extra point made it 7-0.
The Hornets ball carriers followed their jumbo-sized offensive line in response, going 65 yards in 10 plays to tie the game on Bryce Harre's 20-yard touchdown run behind 6'2, 305 lb. Travis Newman's blocking.
The Indians converted a pair of fourth downs on their next drive and continued to rely on the skills of Seth Baxter and Aaron Smith behind their own talented offensive line, but an offsides flag turned second-and-eight into second-and-long, which became third-and-long and ultimately a turnover on downs with 5:48 to go in the first half.
Du Quoin's defense stepped up, forcing a punt after stalling the Hornets at their own 41, and the Indians had just over two minutes and 76 yards of field in front of them when they took over with all three timeouts left.
Gossett hit Baxter on a rollout pass for a 14-yard gain with 36 seconds left, then again on a short route that allowed Baxter to use his feet after the catch and get to the Hornets' 40-yard line where Du Quoin called timeout with 0:08 on the clock.
Gossett fired a long bomb for Smith and the senior hauled in the reception and headed up the sidelines, crossing the goal line with just 1.7 seconds left in the half to give the Indians a 14-7 lead, crucial with Nashville receiveing the second half kickoff.
"They've been working on that at the end of practice," Martin said. "They got a long one off, that was a perfect throw by Sam, and Aaron went and got it. It was big."
Nashville found the going rough on that opening drive, however, as big defensive plays by Kenny Kabat and Trent Bigham along with a motion flag on the Hornets forced a quick punt.
On the kick, Jerel Holmes broke through and got a big piece of the punt, allowing Du Quoin to take over at the Hornets 17-yard line with an excellent opportunity to add to their lead, but the Indians turned it over on downs after failing to get past the Nashville 10.
The Indians' defense went right back to work, forcing another three-and-out and setting up a good return by Smith back to the Hornets' 36.
"Our defensive ends had to have a great game and our down linemen had to have a great game," said Martin. "They had to come off the ball and those ends had to take on those big (Nashville) linemen. It was a deal where (we) had to keep those people off of our linebackers so that our linebackers could get to the ball."
"By taking away that off-tackle hole, we were wanting to force them to bounce so that our quickness could get to them. That's how we tried to go about attacking their offense."
On third and eleven, Gossett hit James Williams with a pass and Williams made a couple defenders miss on his way down to the 18. Smith took the handoff and cut up the middle on the next play for the touchdown as Cory Campanella cleared a path. Du Quoin led 20-7 with 4:31 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets fought back, going 64 yards in 10 plays to stay alive with another Bryce Harre touchdown, but would play the remainder of the game without Gannon Mammel, their leading rusher.
A holding flag set the Indians back to first-and-twenty-one after the kickoff, but Gossett found Diggins for a huge gain down to the Hornets' 16-yard line. Smith contributed a key block to help spring Diggins for the 58-yard catch-and-run.
Baxter came close to getting in with a 9-yard run moments after the fourth quarter began, and eventually punched it in from a yard out with 10:13 left in the game for a 27-13 Du Quoin advantage.
Nashville turned it over on downs on their next possession, and the Indians piled on six more points with a five-yard, fourth-down touchdown run by Gossett with 2:17 to go after eating up almost seven minutes of game clock with the drive.
"Sam Gossett did a good job managing the clock," said Martin. "We put together a drive that wasn't a real exciting drive, but it was a drive that really sealed the victory for us. It was good to see our offense out there and able to come up with some plays. It was just a great team effort, it was a good feeling to see them put together that drive."
Gossett was 10-for-18 passing for 166 yards and three touchowns in the contest, connecting most often with Baxter (5-37) and Smith (2-46).
Smith led the way on the ground with 107 yards on his 22carries. Baxter had 19 carries for 54 yards, Gossett 2-17, Diggins 4-2. The Indians racked up 336 total yards in the game compared to the Hornets' 173. Mamell led the way for Nashville with 49 yards before leaving with an injury.
The Indians are on the road this Friday when they travel to "The Pit" in Anna. The Wildcats are coming off of a week seven loss to Carterville.
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