FOOTBALL: Fourth quarter TD, INT lift Indians over Bismarck-Henning 7-6
A 33-yard touchdown pass from Brenden Fred to Jonah Spencer and a big red-zone interception by Austin Pinski, both coming in the fourth quarter, propelled the Du Quoin Indians past Bismarck-Henning 7-6 in Saturday's IHSA Class 2A football second-round playoff game.
After Spencer scored the tying touchdown, Fred booted the extra point through the uprights to give the Indians their first lead with 8:08 to play. With the Blue Devils driving late with a chance to win, Pinski got in front of a pass from Bismarck quarterback Caleb Bergman at the Du Quoin 2 1/2-yard line where his interception with three seconds on the clock sealed the win for the Indians.
"Great football game, great football teams, offensively and defensively both," said DHS head coach Al Martin. "It's not just one side, it's great effort on both sides. We feel very fortunate to come out on top of this because we beat a good football team that played with a lot of heart, our kids played with a lot of heart. It was just a great game."
Bismarck-Henning head coach Mark Dodd agreed: "That's two good football teams slugging it out," said Dodd. "An extra point, a couple flags, either team could have won that game and either team would have been deserving."
The Blue Devils got the ball to start the game and looked much like the 10-0 team that had averaged over 35 points per contest coming into round two of the postseason. An 11-play, 66-yard drive that took 5 minutes and 18 seconds ended with Bismarck back Kevin Allen's 5-yard touchdown run with 6:42 to go in the first quarter.
On a play that seemed innocent enough at the time, Bismarck-Henning's 300-pounder Morgan Supergan was stuffed on the two-point try by Bryce Ford and Deeja Cole to keep it 6-0.
After both teams went three-and-out, Du Quoin took over on their own 48-yard line late in the first quarter, and early in the second the Indians looked ready to get on the board with a first-and-ten at the Bismarck 16 following a fourth down conversion. The Devils' defense tightened up there, however, forcing a turnover on downs.
While Du Quoin didn't get back into the red zone in the first half, Bismarck had a second-and-one at the Indians' 18 late in the second quarter, but a false start and an illegal block aided in halting their progress before it resulted in points.
"I felt those two penalties there towards the end of the second quarter where we were moving the ball and then get knocked out of scoring range were big," said Dodd. "I really think that was key there, if we can punch one in, all the pressure is on them coming out of the half."
Du Quoin appeared ready to break through on their opening drive after the break, but after achieving a first down at the Devils' 3, two unsuccessful runs and two incomplete passes kept the score 6-0 Bismarck-Henning.
"We felt we should have stuck one in there," Martin said. "They played great defense down there on the goal line, they held us. We couldn't quit. We did a good job getting down there, and games like that you've got to look at the positives. We kept the kids up, they kept plugging."
The game of field position would continue until the Indians got the ball with 10:38 to play in the game at their own 33-yard line. Shayne Baxter fought his way for a 12-yard gain and a first down at the Du Quoin 47, then Fred found Daulton Beltz for a 9-yard gain to Bismarck's 44.
Fred then connected with Daulton Donoghue for a 23-yard gain and a first down at the Devils' 33, where after three incompletions Du Quoin faced fourth and ten with just over 8 minutes to go in the game. Fred then hit Spencer over the middle and the receiver battled through a couple defenders before diving in to tie the score at 6-6.
"We came up with a big catch there, Fred hit Spencer and then he drilled the extra point, it was a well-executed play," Martin said.
The eventual game-winning drive for DHS took just 2:30, but went 67 yards on 9 plays.
Bismarck did nothing on their next possession before turning it over to Du Quoin on downs, but the Indians couldn't punch it in with only 26 yards in front of them and gave it back to the Blue Devils on the DHS 23 with 2:05 remaining.
A facemask penalty on Du Quoin helped extend the drive and Bismarck had a first-and-ten after a completion from Bergman-to-Dustyn Ingram at the Du Quoin 29. On second and ten, Bergman looked for Ingram again near the end zone but Pinski - who had three picks last week against Johnston City - dealt the Devils a knockout blow with his interception.
"Pinski, Pinski, Pinski, I don't know about him," Martin exclaimed. "You can't get him out of there. He's a kid we never thought we be on the field, and now we can't get him off the field because he keeps coming up big."
Bismarck-Henning tried to push Fred back into the end zone for a safety on the game's final play, but the Du Quoin QB kneeled around the 1-yard line to send the Indians into the Quarterfinals.
Fred completed 9-of-24 passes for 123 yards and added 17 yards on 7 rushing attempts. The senior QB's targets included Donoghue (4 catches, 69 yards), Spencer (1-33), Baxter (1-0), Beltz (1-9) and John Erwin (2-15).
Baxter had 51 yards on 10 carries to lead the ground attack for Du Quoin, which totaled just 85 total yards to Bismarck's 191. Camden Youngman added 8 carries for 26 yards.
Allen's 99 rushing yards on 21 attempts led the Blue Devils offensively. Bismarck-Henning finishes their season 10-1.
Du Quoin (9-2) will host their 2A Quarterfinal matchup this Saturday at Van Metre Field against Camp Point (Central), which knocked off Cerro Gordo 33-13 in round two.