FOOTBALL: Indians give Lions a scare, but come up a point short

Du Quoin's defense kept Carterville's high-powered offense out of the end zone, but even that wasn't enough for the Indians to hand the unbeaten Lions their first loss of the season.

Carterville scored on an 88-yard kickoff return just before halftime, then added a field goal in the second half before hanging on for a 9-8 victory at Du Quoin's Van Metre Field on homecoming night this past Friday.

The statistics favored the Indians, but the DHS offense failed to finish off a few potential scoring drives. Despite the loss, Indians head coach Al Martin saw plenty of positives in his team's performance against the heavily-favored Lions.

"We just told them we had to play tough football, and that's mainly what we did," Martin said. "We just played as tough a game of football as we possibly could, we played hard. We had to have great effort and that's what we got, they gave us outstanding effort. We got a week better."

Neither team found the red zone in the opening quarter - and Carterville didn't get there in the entire first half - as defense quickly emerged as the dominating force in the football game.

Du Quoin got to the Lions' 13-yard line early in the second period after a 27-yard pass from quarterback A.J. Smith to Levi Brening, but a penalty stalled the drive and the Indians turned it over on downs at the Carterville 15.

With 8:34 to go in the opening half, the Indians began another solid drive at their own 32-yard line. Smith would complete five passes during the possession, but DHS would again turn the ball over on downs at the Lions' 15-yard line after an incompletion on fourth-and-two.

Carterville's offense went three-and-out, then a bad punt only made it to the Lions' 37-yard line, giving the Indians great field position with 1:17 on the clock.

Smith and Du Quoin took advantage. The senior QB completed passes to Brock Bullar and Lane Valier to set up a third-and-three from the Carterville 17, then Smith connected with Bullar again, this time for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

But just as the celebration in the stands had started to calm down, the Lions responded and took all the momentum into halftime. Blake Vaughn took the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown with just 18 seconds left in the half, and the game went into the break tied at 6-6.

Both defense were ready to go in the second half as well, as the third quarter began with four consecutive three-and-out series.

Just before the end of the third quarter, the Lions took over with excellent field position at their own 41, then used a 13-play drive to get down to Du Quoin's six before sending Jeff Giffey in for a field goal try on fourth and goal. Giffey put it between the uprights for a 9-6 Carterville lead.

Du Quoin would still get two more chances to win the game, but came up empty-handed. After a 67-yard completion from Smith to Jarred Thomas, a sack on a fourth-and-thirteen at the Lions' 13 gave the ball back to Carterville with 3:39 to play. Then, after the Lions intentionally took a safety to avoid punting from their own end zone, Bullar returned the kickoff all the way to Carterville's 45-yard line.

With 1:16 to go, DHS got as deep as the Carterville 30, but couldn't get the big play when they needed it.

Still, Martin was pleased with the play of his quarterback.

"He threw the ball well," Martin said. "He's a good kid, a good quarterback for us, and he's done a lot to keep our team together."

Carterville quarterback Blake Hicks was held in check, managing just six yards on thirteen carries and completing only one two-yard pass while throwing an interception to DHS's Valier.

"We told them we didn't want the quarterback to beat us," said Martin. "He's ran for a lot of yardage for them and we put a lot of focus on him."

Lions fullback Brayden Bisaillon accounted for almost all of Carterville's positive yardage on offense, carrying 22 times for a game-high 113 yards.

For Du Quoin, Smith finished 19-for-34 passing for 273 yards, connection with Bullar (7 catches, 94 yards), Brening (6-54), Valier (1-5), Thomas (1-67), Jacob Hunziker (2-31) and Bryce Clarry (2-25). Valier added 31 yards on 15 rushing attempts.

The Indians (1-3, 0-1) are at Pinckneyville in week five.