Friday Night Lights: Tribe Works overtime in Win at Nashville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For a record 26th consecutive year, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Football playoff party will include a very familiar face.
Du Quoin's Indians are back in the post season following a thrilling 21-20 overtime victory at Nashville, winning for the sixth time to again become playoff eligible.
With a 6-1 record, the Tribe moved to 4-0 in River-to-River Conference play and clinch another Mississippi Division title by beating Anna-Jonesboro (5-2, 3-1) at home next week.
Nashville- which beat A-J last week- dipped to 3-4 and 1-3.
The Indians won the game on a 7-yard pass from Matt Gossett to David Gaytan on the second play in overtime. Sophomore Cayle Diggins then scored what proved to be the deciding marker, successfully booting the extra point.
"That was just a great high school football game," Indians coach Al Martin said. "We struggled in the first half but I think we gained momemtum in the second half with our defense and field position. That kind of carried over into the overtime a little bit."
In its overtime possession, Nashville needed all four downs to score, but Tyler Meyer's PAT kick was low. Jamor Reed deflected the boot, for good measure, sending the Tribe into a victory frenzy.
Gannon Mammel (25 carries, 95 yards) sliced in from the 2-yard line to pull Nashville within a point.
In the opening quarter, the hosts marched 60 yards on the first series for a 7-0 lead.
Chris Storey's 2-yard blast and a kick by Meyer gave the Hornets an early lead, but Du Quoin would tie things late in the quarter on Gaytan's 1-yard run. Diggins added the PAT boot.
Nashville went back ahead 14-7 when Mammel ran in from the 1-yard line.
After a defensive stop late in the first half, Du Quoin would tie the score with an exciting three-play drive.
In just under 30 seconds, the Indians forged back into contention when Gossett connected with sophomore tight end on a 62-yard touchdown pass. Williams, who caught the near midfield, out-ran three Nashville defenders to the end zone.
Wideouts Marcus Clarry and David Rose both threw key blocks as the 225-pound Williams rumbled to his second touchdown of 2009.
"It felt like Nashville dominated the first half and we needed to get on the scoreboard before halftime," Martin said. "That was a big play. We just drag the tight end (Williams) underneath because you know David Rose and Marcus Clarry are going to get most of the coverage. Matt made a good throw and Brandon's run was just outstanding."
Defensively, nine different Du Quoin players recorded at least seven tackles. Reed led the way with 11 stops. Patrick Jones and Rose each had 10 with Jerel Holmes, Alex Heape and Clarry all making eight tackles. Kenny Kabat, Chaz Bland and Evon Stolhans finished with seven stops.
Kabat, Jones and Bland recorded quarterback sacks.
Gaytan led the Indians offense with 61 yards rushing. Aaron Smith added 41.
Gossett completed just three passes for 75 yards, but two went for TD's.
In the extra session, Nashvile won the coin toss and elected to defend.
Gaytan ran three yards on a blast play to start the Du Quoin series. On the very next play, Gossett hit Gaytan out of the backfield on a swing pass.
Gaytan did the rest, bullin his way across the goal line after being hit by a pair of Hornet defenders at the 3-yard line.
"We are prety confident with our goal line offense and work on that every practice," Martin said. "We haven't ran that play much in game situtations but we do have a lot of confidence when we use it."
Du Quoin 21, Nashville 20
Du Quoin 7 7 0 0 7-21
Nashville 7 7 0 0 6-20
First Quarter
NV-Storey 2 run (Meyer kick), 5:53
DQ-Gaytan 1 run (Diggins kicks), 38.5
Second Quarter
NV-Mammel 1 run (Meyer kick), 3:28
DQ-B. Williams 62 pass from Gossett (Diggins kick), 6.2
Overtime
DQ- Gaytan 7 pass from Gossett (Diggins kick)
NV- Mammel 2 run (kick blocked)
TEAM STATISTICS
DQ NV
First downs 14 17
Rushing yards 145 226
Passing yards 75 31
Yardage lost 11 17
Total net yards 209 240
Comp-att-int 3-14-0 2-6-0
Punts-yards 5-135 4-106
Return yards 44 45
Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0
Turnovers 0 0
Penalties 5-35 5-45
Poss time 22:37 25:33
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING- Du Quoin: Gaytan 19-61, Smith 8-41, Gossett 4-25, Rose 2-18.
Nashville: Mammel 25-95, Storey 22-93 Meyer 11-32.Harre 1-6.
RECEIVING-Du Quoin: B.Williams 2-68, Gaytan 1-7.
Nashville: Mammel 1-28, Dalman 1-3.
PASSING- Du Quoin: Gossett 3-14, 75 yards, 2 TD.
Nashville: Harre 2-6, 31 yards.
TACKLES-Du Quoin (s-a-t): Kabat 4-3-7, P. Jones 4-6-10, Hamburger 1-4-5, B. Williams 0-2-2, Holmes 3-5-8, Heape 4-4-8
Bland 3-4-7, M. Clarry 5-3-8, Rose 6-4-10, Reed 3-8-11, Hoffman 2-0-2, Stohlans 1-6-7, S. Clarry 0-2-2, Baxter 1-0-1.
KICK RETURNS- Du Quoin: Smith 1-40.
QUARTERBACK SACKS- Du Quoin: Kabat 1, P. Jones 1, Bland 1.
BLOCKED KICKS- Reed.
OFFICIALS-Richard Herndon, Sr. crew
ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE- 1,750
WEATHER- Windy, wet, cold. 50 degrees.
FIELD CONDITIONS- Poor.