FOOTBALL: Indians look for revenge in Carterville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In week five of the 2010 IHSA football season, the Carterville Lions came to Du Quoin on the Indians' homecoming night and handed the host squad their second loss of the year, a 27-12 victory that many viewed as an upset.
"I think we got four pretty solid quarter from our kids," said Carterville head coach Dennis Drust following the week five victory at Van Metre Field.
"Offense clicked, coaching staff was great, we got great help from upstairs in the booth, we got great help from the sideline and I think our kids believe now that we can go and compete year in and year out in (the Mississippi Division)."
Carterville wasn't supposed to be able to come from the Black Diamond Conference into the S.I.R.R. Mississippi Division and have that kind of success against the 2009 conference champion Indians, but four touchdown runs by their star quarterback Jeff Aldridge exposed a potential weakness on the Du Quoin defense.
"Their quarterback played an outstanding game," said Indians' head coach 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."
"They beat us in all areas of the game, they were the better ball club."
The Lions like to run the option, much like the Indians' opponent in round one, Anna-Jonesboro.
"(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."
A-J's QB Aaron Smithey and fullback Taylor Fitzgerald combind for 245 yards rushing in the loss to Du Quoin, but it wasn't enough to overcome an equally stellar performance by Indian running backs Seth Baxter and Aaron Smith (along with a key late interception by Luchie Porter).
Baxter finished with 125 yards against the Wildcats, which brought his season total to 1018 yards, or 101.8 yards per game. Smith's 98-yard effort versus A-J gave him 693 yards rushing for 2010 (69.3 ypg). The Indians have 2,374 yards rushing as a team on the season (237.4 ypg).
Carterville (7-3) is coming off of a victory over the other team to defeat Du Quoin (8-2) in 2010 - Harrisburg. With the game tied at 0-0 entering overtime, Robby Brown made a 25-yard field goal for the Bulldogs, but Aldridge made it into the end zone on fourth and one for a 6-3 Lions' victory.
Aldridge ran for 101 yards on 20 carries in the game while throwing for 48 yards. J.D. Helton added 91 yards rushing on 16 attempts.
Saturday's game is set for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff in Carterville with parking lots opening at 11:00 a.m. Visitor parking is located 1/4 mile west of Lion Drive at Dance Barn Lane.
Handicap parking and seating is available on the home side of the field. Visitor bleachers are located on the west side of the field.
Additional parking will be available at John A. Logan College and a shuttle will run between JALC and the field every 15 minutes between 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. and again after the game.
If fans would like to purchase tickets in advance, they will go on sale Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the DHS lobby for $5.00. Sales will conclude at 5:30 p.m. Tickets will also be available at the gate on Saturday.