FOOTBALL: Late TD pass keeps DHS in conference title hunt
Du Quoin blew a 21-point lead before showing resiliency with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to keep their conference championship hopes alive on Friday night, as the Indians escaped 'The Pit' in Anna with a 42-38 lead, scoring the game's final touchdown with under a minute left to go.
The Wildcats scored 24 straight points to snatch the lead away from the Indians, and later took their final lead of the game on Jake Stark's 36-yard touchdown pass to Collin Prather with 1:11 to play in the final period.
Seemingly unfazed, Du Quoin's offense responded almost immediately. Indian quarterback Caleb Vogel found Brock Bullar behind the A-J defense for a 74-yard touchdown pass with 54 seconds on the clock to give DHS the lead, and Tucker Kuhnert picked off a stark pass moments later to seal the deal.
"We got off to a hot start, but it never felt very comfortable," said Du Quoin head coach A.J. Hill. "A-J had a great third quarter, they had a great game plan coming in, we were fortunate to be able to make one more play than them at the end."
Somewhat lost in the excitement of the game's final 3:09, which included three lead-changing touchdowns, was another monster game by Du Quoin running back Zayne Fornear. Fornear topped the 1,000-yard mark on the season with his seventh 100-yard+ game, going for 252 yards on 23 carries with three touchdowns.
Fornear's first score looked a lot like his opening-drive touchdown from a week ago against Sparta. The tailback broke free for a 79-yard run on Du Quoin's second play from scrimmage to make it 7-0 after Bullar's extra point.
"Once (Fornear) gets a little bit of daylight, it's hard to catch him," Hill said.
After an A-J fumble gave the ball back to the Indians, Vogel found Cole Hopkins for a 44-yard touchdown completion, and Du Quoin was in command up 14-0 less than six minutes into the game.
The Wildcats capitalized on good field position and got on the board with a 5-yard touchdown run by Trenton Turner early in the second quarter, but the Indians responded with a 10-play, 82 yard scoring drive capped off by Fornear's 1-yard touchdown run. That drive included a pair of first downs picked up on passes to Jordan Edwards, one of them going for 38 yards.
The Wildcats lost their third fumble of the opening half about a minute later, and Fornear struck again with a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play of the drive, giving Du Quoin a 28-7 lead.
But Anna-Jonesboro kept coming. A good kick return led to a 15-yard touchdown pass from Stark to Dakota Earnhart, cutting the lead to 28-13 just before the half.
Earnhart kicked a 31-yard field goal on A-J's first possession of the second half, then the Wildcats forced a three-and-out by the Indians' offense before returning a punt to Du Quoin's 37. Eight plays later, Stark was in the end zone on a 2-yard run and it was a five-point ball game.
The comeback didn't stop there as Stark intercepted Vogel at Du Quoin's 32-yard line with 1:47 left in the third period. Four runs by Alec Gold, the last a 4-yard touchdown run, put the Wildcats on top for the first time with 11:53 remaining in the game, 31-28 after a two-point conversion.
"They wore us out in the third quarter," said Hill. "To respond after they took the lead with (1:11) left shows the resiliency of this team and some of those kids to go out and make a play and not just throw the towel in."
Du Quoin then went three-and-out again on offense, and some may have written the Indians off at that point as the Wildcats has scored on every possession during which they did not turn the ball over.
Momentum kept swinging, though, as the Indians' defense made a stand and forced a three-and-out punt to take over with 7:33 to play at their own 24-yard line. A methodical 11-play drive followed with Vogel scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run after faking the hand-off to Fornear. Bullar's kick put DHS back on top 35-31 with 3:09 left on the clock.
A-J took their turn at fourth-down heroics a couple minutes later as Stark found Prather for the Wildcats' final touchdown, but Vogel's bomb to Bullar along with Kuhnert's interception gave the win to the Indians. DHS's Braden Lee laid the hit on Stark as he was throwing just before the INT.
"It's tough for our defense, you don't see what Anna does a whole lot anymore with the midline, the veer and the option," Hill said. "It took us a while to adjust, but the defense made some plays when we needed them, they stepped up big."
Vogel (7 carries, 41 yards), Bryce Clarry (7-25) and Dylan Ford (5-20) also contributed to Du Quoin's 338 rushing yards on the night.
"Vogel always makes a few plays with his feet," Hill said. "Dylan Ford and Bryce Clarry both had some key runs for us. It was a good night running the football."
Vogel was 6-for-10 passing for 174 yards, hooking up with Bullar (2-74), Hopkins (2-51) and Edwards (2-49).
In addition to the game-winning touchdown grab, Bullar was 6-for-6 kicking extra points and had two forced fumbles on defense.
"Brock made a great play there at the end," said Hill. "(The 6-for-6 on extra points) was one of the biggest stats of the night. After he runs 80 yards he can still kick an extra point to go up four. We took a timeout to give him some rest and he went back out there and drilled it. He did a good job, he was all over the field."
The Indians (4-3, 3-1) will host the Nashville Hornets (6-1, 3-1) in week eight with an SIRR Mississippi Division title up for grabs. With five losses, Anna-Jonesboro's playoff streak of nearly two decades will end this season.