FOOTBALL: Indians prepare for 4-hour journey to Bloomington

Du Quoin's regular season didn't exactly end in textbook fashion last Friday night when the Murphysboro Red Devils punched them in the mouth 43-8, but the Indians can take solace in the fact that as that game ended, a new season was about to begin.

DHS is back in the IHSA Football Playoffs for the first time since 2012, and all the records, scores and statistics accumulated to this point don't mean a thing when the Indians take the field this Saturday.

"We've been preaching that all week," said Du Quoin's A.J. Hill, who just completed his first season as Indians head coach with a 5-4 record and a conference championship.

"We watched a little film to learn from it, but the regular season is over and everybody's 0-0 now. All you've got to do is make it to the playoffs, there have been 5-4 teams make some noise in the playoffs before. We feel pretty good about our season. There's a couple games we wish we had back. Last week wasn't ideal, but we've just got to move forward."

When the Class 3A playoff pairings were announced this past Saturday, the Indians didn't exactly get good news. They knew they'd be on the road, but they learned that their bus trip would be around a 4-hour journey to Bloomington where they will meet the fourth-ranked team in the state, Central Catholic.

"You're still excited," Hill said. "Making the playoffs and winning the conference was huge for this team, the kids, and everybody in the town. At the same time, (Central Catholic) is a good football team, but if you're going to go all the way you're going to have play them at some point. They're one of the better teams in the state, but I like our chances against them. We've just got to make sure we prepare this week and know what we're going up against."

"The thing that worries you the most is not how good they are - that is an issue - but taking the 4-hour bus ride, coordinating everything. We're just glad to be in the playoffs and we're ready to go win a game on Saturday."

The coordination of that trip is another first for Hill. He said the team will be fed before leaving and the bus plans to make a stop on the way to Bloomington for a lunch break.

"About halfway up, the Booster Club has got some sack lunches for the kids, so we'll stop and get out and stretch for about 20 minutes," said Hill. "We do have a charter bus, the kids are more excited about that than the average person. It won't be a bad trip, we get to break it up a little bit. It'll be good as long as we can get them out and get them loose, make sure they're not tight when we get there at 12:00."

The Saints (8-1) have won eight consecutive games after losing in week one to Class 5A's top-ranked, unbeaten Washington, 10-7. Since then, they've averaged over 38 points per game on their way to a perfect season in Corn Belt Conference play. Their defense has given up just over 10 points per game on the year.

"They're solid in all aspects of the game, that's their biggest thing," said Hill. "They've got two really good backs. They're a senior-loaded team. They don't have a ton of depth, but they've got 11 guys on both sides of the ball that are really solid players. They're not real flashy, they like to run the ball at you. They'll try to hit you over the top with the play-action a little bit, and they've done a good job of it. Them executing well, not turning the ball over, just being a sound football team, that's what they bring to the table."

Du Quoin will be the smallest school Central Catholic has faced all season, but the Indians actually have more depth as the Saints roster fewer than 30 players for varsity football.

"They play a lot of guys both ways, but those 11 guys they put on the field are pretty good," said Hill. "They're tall kids, they don't have a ton of weight on them aside from a couple kids. They're just a hard-nosed football team, and they play some old-fashioned hard-nose football. They come at you, mix in the play-action well, and defensively they're just really sound."

Central Catholic's quarterback is 6'2, 180-lb. senior Jake Baughman, who has thrown for 950 yards on 49-of-104 passing with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also rushed for 383 yards and 7 touchdowns over the course of the season.

The Saints' backfield is led by the duo of seniors Brett Segobiano (6'0, 195) and Ryan Zitkus (6'1, 230), who have combined to rush for over 1,800 yards and 19 touchdowns.

As for the style of football the Saints like to play, Hill said they're not a whole lot different from his ball club.

"They're kind of similar to us the way they mix in the play-action a little bit and get in the I-formation with the heavy personnel and run it at you," Hill said. "They have a lot of the same concepts as us. They motion a little more than we do, but they're pretty similar to us as far as what they present offensively and the formations they like to be in. I would say that's been one of the biggest things to our advantage is we've been able to simulate what they do pretty well this week in practice."

The Indians know they'll have to limit their mistakes on Saturday - the kind of mistakes that led to big plays and a big deficit against Murphysboro last week. Du Quoin is battle-tested after four of their nine regular season games were decided by a touchdown or less, something the Saints can't claim after winning each of their last games by at least 15 points.

"I think the biggest thing for us to take care of is controlling the ball a little bit," said Hill, "limiting the big plays - which has been an issue for us all year, keeping guys in front of us, but really just taking care of the ball and making them earn everything."

"I think one thing that is an advantage for us is that through the season we've had some tough games. We've been down and had to come back, we've been in tight games and won at the end. I think that's one thing they haven't had since early in the season. Sometimes when you get those big wins all the time your guys aren't playing the whole game and aren't used to playing a whole game."

The Saints and the Indians will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Bloomington.