FOOTBALL: Indians ride four-game win streak into postseason
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Du Quoin football rides a four-game winning streak into this Saturday's round one Class 3A home playoff game against Anna-Jonesboro, the 27th consecutive season the Indians have qualified for the postseason.
After a 27-12 loss to Carterville in week five, Du Quoin sat at 3-2 and doubters began to surface, but Indians' head coach Al Martin thinks to loss to the Lions may have been what got his team headed in the right direction.
"I think it (got us going)," Marin said. "We didn't play as well as we could have played (in that game)."
"(Since then) I think we've improved on some areas both offensively and defensively. We didn't make any major changes, we were just trying to get better at the fundamentals of what we were doing offensively and defensively. I really appreciate that from the kids, their hard work."
The Indians' current win streak includes a 36-14 over the same A-J Wildcats just two weeks ago in week eight, where Du Quoin turned a one-point halftime lead into a 22-point blowout late in the contest.
"We have to be very fundamentally sound against (Anna)," Martin said. "We made several big plays (in the last meeting), and I think we'll have to make some big plays against them Saturday."
"Also, we have to be very sound defensively. You have to be very disciplined against an option offense the way Anna runs, we'll have to continue to be that way and try to shut down their quarterback and their fullback."
While the Wildcats' rushing attack can be fierce, it's the Indians' running backs (mainly Seth Baxter and Aaron Smith) who have made the bigger impact in 2010.
"Seth (Baxter) has done everything we've asked him to do, he's picked up good yardage, tough yardage. Aaron (Smith) has a couple plays he runs and he's also done a very good job as a receiver catching some big passes," said Martin.
"They've complemented each other, they're both good, versatile athletes. They can catch the ball, they can run inside, they can run outside. They've had a good year for us."
A-J struggled with a three-game skid before righting the ship last week in a 56-22 win over Benton where the offense racked up 500 total yards.
"I think a big key is there that they stayed away from turnovers," commented Martin. "Anna is a two-and-three yards at a time team, that's the kind of game they want to play against you, and if you make turnovers that puts yourself in a bad spot."
As for the game Saturday, Martin emphasized that his team needs to be ready to play and have a good week of preparation in order to continue thier success.
"It's important that we focus on what we're doing, and that's playing the football game and trying to improve on what we're doing," Martin said.
"It's a very important part of this week, the preparation for us. We can't look and see what the score was of the previous game we had with Anna, we can't compare our won-loss record to their won-loss record, you have to look at the game itself and what you need to do and try to carry out your assignments and not get caught up into the emotions of the game."
"You want to play with emotions but you want to stay focused on what your assignments are."
Kickoff for tomorrow's matchup is set for 1:00 p.m. at Van Metre Field at DHS, with gates opening and tickets going on sale at 11:30 a.m.
The winner will meet up with Harrisburg or Carterville in round two of the Class 3A bracket.