FOOTBALL: Panthers knock off Wildcats to end skid
Pinckneyville picked up a much-needed win on Friday night at home, knocking off Anna-Jonesboro 14-7 to end a two-game losing streak this season and an eight-game conference losing streak over the course of the last three years. All of the game's points came in the fourth quarter.
"I can't be happier for our kids," said PCHS head coach Todd Thomas. "It's homecoming week, there's a lot going on. We had the best week of preparation during a homecoming week since I've been here. We won the game Monday through Thursday this week, we didn't win it tonight."
Neither team set foot in the other's red zone during the entire first half as the two schools' defenses made plays when they needed them.
Right after the break, though, A-J marched down the field on the Panthers on their opening drive, using ten run plays to set up a first-and-ten at the Pinckneyville 13-yard line. Three more rushing attempts failed to yield a score, but left the Wildcats with a fourth-and-one at the 4 when PCHS called for timeout with 4:23 on the clock.
After the timeout, Anna-Jonesboro's fullback Alec Gold took the handoff from quarterback Jake Stark looking for a first down but was stuffed for a loss by Pinckneyville's Sam Simpson and Brian Kling.
"Holding the fullback in their offense to under 100 yards is pretty good for us," Thomas said. "He's a good player, he's athletic and he's strong. We were real concerned about stopping him. Limiting him was our goal and that's kind of what we did. We didn't let him run wild, we kept him out of the end zone, and here we are."
The Panthers took over on their own 7-yard line, but weren't intimidated by the 93 yards of greenery between them and the end zone. The 13-play drive, which included two key passes from Clayton Houghland to Caulden Lazenby, another catch for a first down by Dylan Carns, and a pair of big runs by Alex Howard, the second of which came from 5 yards out and put six points on the board for PCHS. Carns' extra point made it 7-0 with 9:13 to play in the game.
"That was a huge, huge momentum swing," Thomas said of the sequence of events leading to their first score. "We stepped up down there and got a stop. They took the ball down and used the majority of the third quarter, and when they didn't get it in I saw our kids get energized. Then we took it down and scored. Huge momentum change with that."
The Wildcats started their next drive from the 20 after a touchback, but managed only three net yards before lining up to punt. The snap went over the kicker's head, however, and the Panthers pounced on him at the A-J 11-yard line with 6:53.
Howard took the first down carry down to the 1, then Houghland punched it in from there for a 14-0 lead following the extra point.
A-J turned it over on downs their next time out, then the Panthers punted it back to the Wildcats with 4:27 remaining. This time, Anna-Jonesboro finally was able to get on the board, as Stark connected with Collin Prather for a 66-yard touchdown pass. Prather caught the ball in traffic, absorbed a hit, and still was able to break free and keep the Wildcats in the ball game down 14-7 with 4:07 left in the fourth quarter.
A-J's onside kick was recovered by Carns, but the Panthers gave the Wildcats another chance when they went three-and-out on offense.
On first-and-ten from their own 30-yard line, Stark was picked off by Kling, however, and the Panthers picked up a first down on offense and were able to line up in victory formation to end the game.
"The coaching staff, Coach (Skip) Heninger, did a great job calling the game tonight," Thomas said. "We kind of mixed up our fronts, I think that confused them a little bit, they weren't able to just tee off on us. After the first quarter we kind of calmed down and played our assignments, whoever was supposed to tackle the fullback tackled the fullback, whoever was on the quarterback had the quarterback. I'm really happy for our kids. I'm proud of them, I can't say enough about them. We can't be satisfied, we need to keep getting better and try to shoot for a winning season and possible playoff berth."
Howard finished the game with 128 yards rushing on 21 carries. Lazenby added 29 yards on his 7 rushing attempts. Houghland was 6-for-8 passing for 90 yards, connecting with Kling (2-22), Carns (2-42) and Lazenby (2-26).
The Panthers (4-2, 1-2) are at Nashville in week seven.