FOOTBALL: Red Devils deliver knockout blow to Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After 27 consecutive years of qualifying for the IHSA's football playoffs, the Du Quoin Indians will be sitting this one out.
The Indians fell 41-34 to Murphysboro on Friday night, their third home loss of the season, and in the process dropped to 5-4. With only 38 power points (total wins by all nine opponents) to their credit, Du Quoin was two points shy of the 40 it took to qualify for this year's postseason when the brackets were released on Saturday night and as a result are one of 25 teams in Illinois with five wins that were left on the outside looking in.
Six Indian turnovers, four of which led to Murphysboro points, spoiled Senior Night at Van Metre Field and Red Devils running back Diamante Bradley had his way with the Du Quoin defense to the tune of 197 yards on 19 rushing attempts.
"They played very good football," Indians' head coach Al Martin said of the Devils. "They've had games throughout the year where they didn't always have all of their players. Their coach has done a good job of getting their program organized and disciplined. They knew the last couple games they had everybody, we caught them at a good time for them."
"I thought their running backs were probably as good as we've seen all year."
Devan Baril also topped the century mark rushing for Murphy, racking up 150 yards and 3 touchdowns on his 19 carries.
"It's hard to simulate the type of quickness they have," Martin said. "Their quickness hurt us, and quickness has hurt us all year."
Quickness may have played a big factor on one side of the ball, but the six turnovers committed by Du Quoin on offense were definitely the difference in the outcome. Five fumbles and a late interception spelled doom for the Indians' hopes on Friday, and ultimately on Saturday night.
"We were able to move the ball different ways," Martin said. "We threw the ball, we found some things we could do running the ball, I thought our kids blocked well up front. The bad part about it, we put the ball on the ground."
"If that doesn't happen, I'm confident it's a different ball game. Those things happen, they happen to the best of teams and it happened to us (Friday) night."
The Indians were up 6-0 after Shayne Baxter's 15-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the game which followed a fumble on the opening kickoff by the Red Devils.
Murphysboro struck back with a quick score on the ground, but then quarterback Brenden Fred started to settle in for Du Quoin. Fred connected with Cayle Diggins for a 45-yard completion that set up an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Williams for a 12-7 lead with 6:38 to go in the first quarter.
The Indian defense then forced a punt, but Williams fumbled on the first play of offense and Murphysboro would take advantage. After the recovery the Devils went 55 yards on 14 plays, scoring on a 1-yard keeper by Kyle Miller.
A 10-play, 65-yard drive by the Indians followed with Diggins running over a would-be tackler to score from four yards out, and Du Quoin led 19-13.
The Indians appeared to have caught a break moments later, recovering a fumble at their own 32-yard line with 4:28 left in the half, but a fumble on the center-quarterback exchange just two plays later handed the ball back to Murphy deep within Du Quoin territory.
Miller would find Darion Jarrett on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 1:30 to go to put the Devils up 20-19 at the break.
After Baril scored on a 26-yard run just a minute and a half into the third period, Du Quoin would score 15 unanswered points to grab control of the game. Diggins scored on an 18-yard run with 7:02 left in the quarter, then Antonio "Buddy" Smith ran in from 8 yards out for a 34-27 lead with just over a period to play.
The Indian defense then forced a punt on fourth-and-eight from the Red Devils' 37-yard line, but Baxter couldn't handle the bouncing ball and Murphysboro swarmed the fumble for possession at Du Quoin's 28.
Miller found Jarrett again with 8:06 left in the game to tie the score, then the Devils forced the fifth fumble by the Indians and recovered at their own 32-yard line. Du Quoin forced a punt on that series, but couldn't get out of their own territory on offense.
Murphysboro's game-winning drive started at their own 26-yard line and lasted six plays, the last a 7-yard touchdown run from Baril that silenced the hometown crowd.
Fred drove the Indians deep in the final minute, but was picked off on second down from the Murphysboro 28, allowing the Red Devils to down out the clock.
"(Coach Gary Carter) has got them going in the right direction," Martin said of Murphsyboro. "They did some things last night that we weren't prepared for. They've got the speed to be able to carry out some assignments that they're asking their kids to do."
Diggins led Du Quoin with 84 yards on 14 carries, Trevon Jones added 76 yards on 11 rushes. Baxter (9-62), Smith (3-22), Fred (1-10) and Williams (3-9) also had carries.
Fred was 8-for-16 passing for 141 yards, connecting with Diggins (3-84), Daulton Donoghue (2-35), Williams (2-15) and Jonathan Boss (1-7).
Martin had never missed the postseason as Indians head coach. Du Quoin (5-4) also lost three regular season home games in 2011 for the first time since 1982.
Murphysboro ends their season at 4-5.
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