Friday Night Lights: By Inches, Tribe Survives Improved BCM
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For Du Quoin High School's football team-especially in the previous 21 years under coach Al Martin-close games on season opening night have been a rarity.
The Indians-other than a pair of losses and few tight decisions against Highland-have enjoyed flying starts to each season.
Friday night, however, Du Quoin found itself in a final quarter battle for survival and just managed to hang on.
A harrowing 35-28 win over Class 5A Bethalto (Civic Memorial) pushed Martin's season opening record to a sparkling 20-2, but certainly didn't come without some heart-stopping moments.
Ahead 35-7 as the final quarter began, the Indians surrendered three consecutive touchdowns. With under two minutes remaining, Much-improved BCM was inside the 10-yard line and threatening to tie or possibly win the game.
A huge defensive stand on fourth down-and-inches preserved the Indians victory, giving the state's third-ranked team in Class 3A another 1-0 start.
"Their spread offense kept our defense on the field a lot," Martin said. "We were worn down late in the game. And there are some things we need to work on. Give Bethalto a lot of credit, they had a nice offensive scheme. They've got great athletes and speed at the skill positions."
Du Quoin scored twice as a direct result of Eagles turnovers, the first coming after sophomore defensive end Brandon Williams recovered a fumble at the 13-yard line.
Four plays later, Matt Gossett and David Gaytan connected on a 6-yard swing pass. The PAT try failed and the Indians were ahead 6-0 at the 5:47 mark of the first quarter.
Williams would record his first varsity catch-and touchdown-barely 3 1/2 minutes later-hauling in a 14-yard toss from Gossett.
The play capped a seven-play drive that covered 64 yards.
Gossett then found David Rose on another pass play for the two-point PAT, pushing Du Quoin in front 14-0.
On the ensuing BCM possession, Gossett, playing outside linebacker, intercepted a Czeschin pass and raced untouched 43 yards to the end zone. The kick by sophomore Cayle Diggins pushed the Tribe's lead to 21-0 with just 4.9 seconds left in the first quarter.
"With so many inexperienced kids playing key positions for us," Martin said. "It was very important for us to get off to a good start. And we did."
A 58-yard run by Devin Caldwell, one of several speedsters on the BCM roster, was the lone tally in the second quarter and Du Quoin went to the Hauser Field locker room with a 21-7 edge.
The second half-which last nearly 90 minutes-started innocently enough with each team trading possessions. A two-yard blast by Gaytan as the clocked ticked under 5 1/2 minutes put the Tribe up 27-7. Diggins was again true on the PAT kick and Du Quoin had its early 21-point edge back.
Senior linebacker Evon Stollhans intercepted a pass from BCM's Michael Czecshin near midfield and rambled to the 22-yard line on the next series, again putting the Tribe in business.
A perfect eight-yard fade pass from Gossett to Rose on fourth-and-goal turned out to be the final Indians TD. After another Diggins kick, Du Quoin stretched the margin to 35-7 and a third consecutive season starting romp over BCM appeared to be well in order.
Bethalto didn't get that message and scored nine seconds into the fourth quarter on Czeschin's 11-yard pass to reserve tight end Matthew Stimac. After Tanner Brown's boot, the Du Quoin lead was still a comfortable 35-14.
Barely 90 seconds later, the Eagles would score again after Alex Lopez recovered a rare fumble by Indian halfback Jamor Reed.
A scrambling Czeschin found Alex Belloso open on fourth-and-goal at the nine, pulling BCM within 14 points.
The stiffening Eagles defense forced a Tribe punt on the next series and is offense needed just nine plays-and four minutes-to roll the field against a weary Du Quoin defense. Fullback Ryne Cherry slammed in from the three and Brown's kick trimmed the lead down to just 35-28.
"We tired and our defense was just on the field so long in the fourth quarter, " Martin said. "Our depth was a little thin at several key positions and we had to just try and hang on."
They did. But barely.
An onside kick by Brown eluded Du Quoin and was recovered by Belloso at the 36-yard line with 3:45 to go in regulation time.
BCM moved all the way down to the Indians 11-yard line, but two passes fell incomplete and Kenny Kabat (nine tackles) stopped Czeschin's end around for a small gain to set up fourth down.
After a time out, Czeschin tried to sneak behind 275-pound center Cameron Costanzo, but a strong surge by Du Quoin D-tackle Patrick Jones busted the play up.
A host of Indian tacklers, led by Jones, Gossett, Alex Heape, Karson Hoffman, Rose and Kabat, stuffed the play.
"We had to have somebody on defense just step up and make a big play," Martin said. "And they did. We have a lot to work on defensively, but still managed to stop them when it counted. There are a lot of good things we can build on."
Du Quoin then ran Reed off-tackle for nine yards and forced BCM to take its final timeout. A seven-yard blast by Reed (15 carries, 125 yards) finally sealed the win.
Gaytan (38 yards) and Gossett (31 yards) were solid compliments to Reed in the running game. Gaytan was injured on the onside kick by BCM and later taken by ambulance to nearby Bethalto Care Center.
He was treated and quickly released after suffering a "neck stinger."
Martin expects the senior will play when the Tribe visits Harrisburg this Friday night.
Gossett's first varsity start at QB ended with solid numbers. He was 17-for-23, rolling up 159 yards with three TD and a two-point PAT pass.
D. Rose (11 catches, 90 yards) and Marcus Clarry (49) yards were the top receivers.
Defensively, D. Rose had 10 tackles at strong safety. Kabat added nine with B. Williams and Bryce Hamburger each recording seven stops.
"That was a tough opening game and we've learned there are some things we really need to improve at," Martin said. "Despite the fourth quarter, we still managed to win the game. We'll get better.
Bethalto is going to be a good ballclub. That team has a lot of speed."
Caldwell ran for 100 yards with Czeschin gaining 84 and passing for 115 more.
All totaled, Du Quoin out-gained BCM 330-309.
Du Quoin 35,
Bethalto Civic Memorial 28
Du Quoin 21 0 14 0-35
Bethalto 0 7 0 21-28
FIRST QUARTER
DQ - Gayton 8 pass from M. Gossett (run failed), 5:47
DQ - B. Williams 15 pass from M. Gossett (Diggins kick), 2:24
DQ - M. Gossett 43 interception return (Diggins kick), 4.9
SECOND QUARTER
BCM - Caldwell 58 run (Brown kick), 11:41
THIRD QUARTER
DQ - Gayton 1 run (Diggins kick), 5:24
DQ - D. Rose 8 pass from Gossett (Diggins kick), 2:19
FOURTH QUARTER
BCM - Stimac 3 pass from Czeschin (Brown kick), 11:51
BCM - Belloso 1 pass from Czeschin (Brown kick), 10:08
BCM - Cherry 3 run (Brown kick), 3:54
TEAM STATISTICS
DQ BCM
First Downs 22 16
Rushing yards 37-207 37-190
Passing yards 159 130
Yardage lost -36 -11
Total net yards 330 309
Comp-att-int 17-23-0 15-25-2
Punts, avg. 2-54, 26.5 1-26
Return yards 108 29
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1
Turnovers 1 3
Penalties 6-45 4-30
Possession time 22:49 25:11
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Du Quoin: Reed 18-125, M. Gossett 5-31, Gaytan 14-38, Davis 1-0, Bigham 1-2, D. Rose 1-11.
BCM: Caldwell 14-100, Czeschin 15-84, Cherry 2-3, McKinney 1-1, Brown 2-2.
PASSING-Du Quoin: M. Gossett 17-23, 159 yards, 3 TD.
BCM: Czeschin 14-29, 115 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT. Caldwell 1-1, 15 yards.
RECEIVING-Du Quoin: D. Rose 11-90, M. Clarry 3-49, B. Williams 1-14, Gaytan 1-6.
TACKLES (solos-assists-total)-Du Quoin: Kabat 4-5-9. P. Jones 1-2-3, Hamburger 1-5-6, B. Williams 6-1-7, M. Gossett 0-3-3, Heape 1-3-4, Stolhans 0-3-3, M. Clarry 1-3-4, D. Rose 6-4-10, Reed 2-3-5, Hoffman 1-4-5, Bigham 0-1-1, Payne 0-1-1, S. Clarry 0-1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS-Du Quoin: M. Gossett, Stolhans
FUMBLE RECOVERIES-Du Quoin: B. Williams.
BCM-Lopez
KICKOFF RETURNS-Du Quoin: D. Rose 2-38
BCM-McKinney 1-29.
PUNT RETURNS-Du Quoin: M. Clarry 1-13.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-BCM: Brown (33 , wide right)
OFFICIALS-Eric Ruden crew.
ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE: 1,250.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Drizzle, 70.