FOOTBALL: Wildcats take advantage of Panthers' mistakes
ANNA, IL - Anna-Jonesboro only out-gained Pinckneyville 309-219 in total yards in Friday night's game, but the Wildcats took advantage of four Panther turnovers and out-scored PCHS 41-0 at The Pit.
The Panthers, without starting quarterback Colton Nelson and playing thin in other areas, lost for the third straight week after beginning the 2012 season 2-0.
Nelson sat out with a broken bone in his shoulder that will sideline him for 3-4 weeks and his usual backup, Adam Banach, was also out after failing a concussion test. Dalton Bathon would have been the third string QB, but was sidelined with a broken thumb.
That left Daulton Hubler - who as a sophomore filled in under center for five games before becoming the Panthers' fullback and receiver. Hubler gave a valiant effort despite getting no practice reps at quarterback, but the deck was stacked against Pinckneyville in Anna.
"I thought he did a pretty nice job," said Panthers' head coach Tod Rushing. "On some of the throws, you could tell he hasn't thrown the ball a lot."
"He gives us a different dimension, he's a power runner and he actually throws the ball pretty well, but when you haven't been throwing it, it's different."
Pinckneyville's defense was suffering from minimal depth as well, and the results showed up on the scoreboard. The Panthers gave up 41 points in week five after holding their first four opponents to an average of just under 20 points per game.
"I've had injuries to deal with in the past, but never of this magnitude, especially when you're thinner in numbers," Rushing said. "Last year we had 19 seniors, this year we only have 9, and sometimes we can't put another senior in there (when someone's injured), it's a sophomore."
The Wildcats snatched away all the game's momentum in a span of less than a minute late in the first quarter.
After A-J drove 67 yards for a score on their opening drive, Pinckneyville was moving the ball on offense and faced a second down and one from the Wildcat's 21-yard line with 2:33 to go in the period. Anna's Seth Heern got in front of a Hubler pass and took it over 80 yards down to the Panthers' 2-yard line before Wildcat QB Jay Kemp bootlegged his way in two plays later for a 13-0 lead.
Heern made another big play on the first play after the kickoff. The Panthers put the ball on the ground and Heern picked it up at the Pinckneyville 31-yard line to set up Kemp's touchdown pass to Alex McRaven that made it 20-0 with 1:35 left on the first quarter game clock.
"Late in the game is the only time they really ran it down our throat," Rushing said, "the other times we gave them a short field."
"I can't knock our kids, I thought they fought pretty hard. Anna's a nice football team."
Hubler finished 4-for-11 passing for 50 yards, connecting with Justyn Rushing (4-42) and Ky Hamilton (1-8), and rushed for 55 yards on 17 attempts.
Chase Lazenby's 88 yards on 9 carries led the Panthers on the ground with J. Rushing (5-20) and Trent Hicks (2-6) also running the ball for PCHS.
Pinckneyville (2-3, 0-2) is on the road again in week six at Nashville (1-4, 1-1).