'Dogs ride Lester to win over Herrin

Harrisburg scored 21 unanswered points and hitched its saddle to Bryant Lester, who popped off for three straight scores, sending the Bulldogs to a 35-22 win over Herrin Saturday at Taylor Field.

The win snapped a two-game skid for Harrisburg, who were also shut out in both contests.

Harrisburg head coach Gabe Angelly's guys got behind the eight-ball early, trailing 14-0, but he complimented his club on their resiliency.

"To have the disappointing loss like we had last week and not execute offensively like we wanted to - really for two weeks - we have been putting zero's up on the scoreboard for two weeks, so we challenged our offense this week to play physical and (Saturday) is what we expected. That's Harrisburg football."

Harrisburg rushed for 198 yards on the day and racked up 315 all-purpose yards in getting their first victory since Week 1 against Massac County.

Herrin, who took a quick two score lead thanks in part to a two-yard run by Cameron Evrard and a blocked punt return for a touchdown by Chase Bigham, gave up a TD towards the end of the first as Harrisburg's Tyson Satterfield scored from 13 yards out to make it 14-6.

In the second, the shifty Satterfiled got the call again, scoring from seven yards out, while Lester completed the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-all.

Evrard punched in his second and Herrin's final touchdown of the game, as the junior QB scored from five yards out with 2:40 left to play in the first half, giving the Tigers the 22-14 advantage.

From there, Harrisburg rode Lester down the stretch to the tune of three straight scores from two, one and three yards out for the come from behind victory.

Lester had 36 carries for 116 yards, while Satterfield ran seven times for 47 yards.

Under center, Harrisburg used three quarterbacks, two of which came on fake plays. Noah Boon faked a punt and found Lester open on the right side of the field for 20 yards and Satterfield connected on a halfback toss to Jake Hefner for 25 yards on a third down conversion. Ben Gulley was 4-for-9 for 74 yards.

Harrisburg (2-2) will now play Du Quoin next Saturday. The game, which was originally scheduled for Friday, has been moved due to the Indians playing Nashville Monday.

Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Harrisburg 06 14 08. 07 - 35

Herrin 14 08 00 00 - 22

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

HER - Evrard 2 yard run (Sissom conversion), 8:50

HER - Brigham blocked punt return (conversion failed), 6:25

HBG - Satterfield 13 yard run (kick failed), 1:33

Second Quarter

HBG - Satterfield 13 yard run (Lester conversion), 7:43

HER - Evrard 5 yard run (Billingsley conversion), 2:40

HBG - Lester 2 yard run (conversion failed), 29.9

Third Quarter

HBG - Lester 1 yard run (Lester conversion), 6:40

Fourth Quarter

HBG - Lester 3 yard run (Rider kick), 46.6

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: HBG - Lester 36-116 (3 TD), Satterfield 7-47 (2 TD), Rider 3-24, Whiting 1-6, Gulley 3-5. HER - Evrard 14-97 (2 TD), Billinglsey 11-48, Braid 2-23, Sissom 5-15.

PASSING: HBG - Gulley 4-9-0 74, Sattefield 1-1-0 27, Boon 1-1-0 20. HER - Evrard 3-6-0 43.

RECEIVING: HBG - Rider 3-67, Lester 1-20, Hefner 1-25. HER: Sissom 2-16, Lence 1-27.