FOOTBALL: Hornets can't hang with Panthers
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville scored 24 straight points in the second and third quarters as the Panthers propelled themselves into a four-way tie for first place in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference's Mississippi Division by knocking off Nashville 38-15 on Friday night at Quillman Field.
PCHS quarterback Bryant Shute had his second 100-yard plus, three-touchdown game running the football in as many weeks, also throwing for 123 yards and two more scores. The Panthers out-gained the Hornets 462 yards to 220 in the game.
"I thought our line was outstanding, I thought we wore their line out," said PCHS head football coach Tod Rushing.
"I think our conditioning showed up tonight. Both teams had guys playing both ways. Mason Miller, Tyler Harmon, and some other different kids who don't play all the time, they got in there and got a few downs on defense and gave us a break, gave us some rest. I think that was a big thing, getting our kids some rest that (Nashville's) kids maybe weren't getting."
The Panthers marched right down the field on their opening drive and scored on a 31-yard run from Shute to go up 6-0 with 8:47 to go in the opening quarter, but the Hornets answered with an eight-plus minute drive where they worked around a pair of false start penalties to take a 7-6 lead on a pitch to Braeden Haertling for a 5-yard touchdown.
It was all Pinckneyville after that.
Shute led a 9-play, 72-yard drive and connected with Justin Hale in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass, then found Cole Kellerman for the two-point conversion and a 14-7 Panther lead with 9:31 left in the first half.
The defense got it together as well, forcing three-and-outs the next two Nashville possessions before the offense committed its first turnover since week four, a tipped pass that was intercepted by Justin Grathwohl for the Hornets.
On Nashville's first offensive play, however, the Hornets couldn't hang onto the ball after the snap and Brad Thornton pounced on the fumble for the Panthers with 3:09 on the clock.
Pinckneyville took advantage, going 56 yards and scoring on Shute's 3-yard run just 32 seconds before halftime.
"I thought we responded well (to their first score)," Rushing said "We made some adjustments, things we'd worked on during the week and we didn't get them done that first defensive possession but I thought we did a better job after that. (Shute) again makes a couple of big hits and I think that kind of picked up the tempo of the defense."
The Hornets threatened early in the third quarter, driving into the red zone before Daulton Hubler sacked quarterback Alex Caplin for an 11-yard loss on third down, then Shute drilled a would-be receiver to force an incompletion and a turnover on downs the following play.
Pinckneyville again took advantage, driving 77 yards before Shute's 33-yard touchdown pass to C. Kellerman with 1:26 left in the third made it 30-7 following a two-pointer from Shute-to-Hale.
"I think (Nashville) struggled with our passing game," said Rushing. "We knew that they might, and when we threw the ball a little to where they had to be conscious of that, it opened up some alleys for us to run the ball. That threat was always there that we were going to throw it, and it's tough to guard a two-headed monster."
Nashville would add another score in the fourth quarter on a botched punt by the Panthers, but Hale broke a big run to set up Shute's 1-yard score with 7:20 left to put the game out of reach.
Also in the fourth quarter, Austin Pyatt hauled in an interception for PCHS on defense, and the hands team recovered an attempted onside kick by the Hornets to help preserve the win.
"Having the hands team ready to get out there, a lot of the credit goes to Coach (Mark) Bullock and what he does with the special teams," Rushing said.
Shute had 143 yards on his 17 carries to lead the Panthers in rushing for the second straight week. He added three touchdowns, and for the season has now reached the end zone 11 times on the ground.
Hale (8 carries, 89 yards), C. Kellerman (11-50), J.D. Connor (5-44), Hubler (1-10) and Colin Hagene (1-3) also contributed to a ground game that netted 339 yards against the Hornets.
Shute completed 8-of-15 passes with C. Kellerman (3 catches, 61 yards, TD) and Hale (3-38, TD) as his favorite targets of the night. Pyatt (1-21) and Connor (1-3) also had receptions.
The Panthers failed to play turnover-free as they had in week five's win over A-J, but their lone give-away against Nashville came on a tipped pass, and Pinckneyville has turned it over just once in their last eight quarters after coughing it up almost four times a game through week four.
"I've told the kids all year, 'you can count the times when we felt like another team stuck us or stopped us on one hand," Rushing said. "If you look at our offensive stats, we haven't scored a lot of points, but we've given away probably eight or nine touchdowns on the year."
The victory sets up a marquee matchup this Friday night at Van Metre Field in Du Quoin. The Panthers and Indians both come into DHS's homecoming game at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Mississippi, tied with Nashville and Anna-Jonesboro for the Division lead. Friday's winner will likely be in the playoffs with their fifth win of the season and control their own destiny for at least a share of the SIRR Mississippi crown.
Du Quoin has won every annual meeting between the two varsity football programs since 1983, a streak of 27 straight victories.
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