FOOTBALL: Herrin rolls past Du Quoin, 56-8

Chase Merrill returned two punts for touchdowns and had four scores overall, while Gavyn Gosha rushed for three more touchdowns as Herrin routed Du Quoin, 56-8, Friday night at the Harrison-Bruce Sports Complex.

Du Quoin fell to 1-2 with the loss.

"We just have to keep plugging," said Du Quoin coach Al Martin. "We'll keep hanging in there. At least we can say we didn't have any injuries tonight. We just have to work harder with the conference season starting."

Herrin, now 2-1 with a last-minute loss to Waterloo still stinging, racked up over 300 rushing yards and put the mercy clock into effect for the final 10 minutes.

"I was pleased with how the kids played hard from the first whistle to the last whistle," said Herrin coach Jason Karnes, himself a Du Quoin graduate. "The good thing about it is we were able to get a lot of kids in tonight. I think we're starting to put some things together. We were very consistent tonight and that's what we were looking for.

"The first two games, I thought we played inconsistent and we were more consistent tonight."

Gosha scored Herrin's first three touchdowns with runs of 22 and 44 yards followed by a 27-yard TD catch from quarterback Gavin Pickel. Gosha finished with just six carries for 91 yards.

"Gavyn is coming into his own right now," Karnes said. "He's really had two great weeks in a row for us and really gave us a spark to start the game."

Merrill's 72-yard touchdown scamper put the Tigers up 35-0 before halftime. Merrill then returned punts 64 and 71 yards for scores in the third quarter. He totaled 160 yards rushing on nine carries.

"Chase is just a well-rounded player," Karnes said. "With punt returns or whatever else he did, he was probably the best player out there on the field tonight. ... We didn't get him going off the start but we told him to relax and let the game come to him. We got some things opened up."

Du Quoin avoided the shutout with 1:50 left in the third quarter when quarterback A.J. Smith connected with Brock Bullar for a 23-yard touchdown. Bryce Clarry caught a pass on the conversion and it was 49-8.

Chris Butler tacked on a short scoring run for the Tigers with 5:45 remaining.

"I thought up front our offensive and defensive line played extremely well," Karnes said. "We have some good backs but it all starts up front and I'm extremely happy with those guys.

"Football is about the size of the kids' heart. Size-wise, they were a lot bigger than us but our kids just played extremely hard."

Zane Fornear had six carries for 63 yards and Lane Valier had 15 rushes for 43 yards for the Indians. Bullar had two carries for 13 yards and Smith finished 7 of 14 for 92 yards and the touchdown to Bullar. Valier and Spencer Kuhnert both recovered fumbles for the Du Quoin defense.

Du Quoin hosts Carterville on homecoming night this Friday at Van Metre Field.