Friday Night Lights: Gaytan, Tribe Run Wild at Sparta
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Senior halfback David Gaytan rushed for 176 and four touchdowns- all in the first half Friday night- as Du Quoin notched its 26th consecutive victory over Sparta Friday night.
The final score was 48-7 as the Indians improved to 3-1 overall and opened its defense of the River-to-River Conference's Mississippi Division title with the convincing win.
Sparta's records fell to 0-4 and 0-1.
Next Friday the Tribe visits undefeated Chester (4-0).
Gaytan had touchdown runs of 36 and 13 yards as Du Quoin raced to an early 14-0 first period edge.
Two more scores from Gaytan- eight and nine yard bursts- and an 11-yard run by Jamor Reed pushed Du Quoin in front 41-7 by intermission.
"I felt like we came over here and accomplished what we needed to get done," Indians coach Al Martin said. "Our efforts on offense, defense and special teams were very strong."
Du Quoin finished the game with 471 total offensive yards, 352 on the ground. Aaron Smith (11 carries, 92 yards), Seth Baxter (7 carries 64 yards) and Jamor Reed (4 carries, 45 yards) were strong compliments to Gaytan, who ran the ball for 10 or more yards on 10 of his 14 rush attempts.
Quarterback Matt Gossett was again sharp for the Indians, hitting on five of seven attempts. Gossett ended with 119 yards and a 51-yard TD strike to Marcus Clarry.
Baxter's seven-yard run just 28 seconds into the third quarter capped the scoring and started the continuous clock.
Defensively, the Tribe allowed just 116 yards and forced four turnovers. David Rose and Luchie Porter intercepted passes with Evon Stollhans and Chaz Bland recovering fumbles.
Sparta's lone score came on a 6-yard late first half run by Preston Nance.
Martin substituted freely in the last two-plus quarters as nearly all of the 55-player road squad saw extended playing action. The Indians had nine different ball carriers. 17 players recorded at least one tackle with Du Quoin employing three different quarterbacks.