Prep Football: High Drama

Momentum was a strange thing Friday night at Taylor Field. At one point, it looked like Harrisburg was well on its way to putting distance between itself and visiting Du Quoin. Then thanks to a second half fumble, karma turned on a dime and it appeared as if the Bulldogs were going to be staring an 0-2 start to the season in the face.

But things changed back to the positive for Al Way and company when quarterback Noah Vallette found wideout Corbin Crim-Harbison on a fourth and long 40-yard jump ball completion.

Trailing 14-13 with less than two minutes left, that pass play led to the eventual game winning scamper from Matt Upchurch with 1:30 left in the Bulldogs 21-14 victory over the Indians.

"It saved us. It's simple. If we don't complete that pass, the game is over. We should've never been in that situation, but we were and I'm thrilled to death. It was not looking good," said Way.

Vallette made big plays on both sides of the ball. The senior got the scoring started with his 30-yard interception return to paydirt midway through the second quarter.

Tylor Marler gave the Bulldogs a 13-0 advantage late in the second period with his three-yard touchdown run.

Marler finished with 99 yards on 17 carries.

Teammate Kane Carrigan ran for 66 yards and Aaron Stephens added 41 yards on the ground.

After having trouble slowing down Mount Camel a week ago, Way said he was happy with how his defense responded against Du Quoin.

"Last week (vs Mount Carmel) we played pretty good offensively except for the fumbles, tonight we just didn't execute. Thank goodness we played better defense. We saw more traditional run right at you, short passing game stuff tonight. It made defending Du Quoin a little bit easier with a more traditional defense."

Du Quoin (1-1) score 14 unanswered second half points to take its only lead thanks to an 88-yard Brock Bullar fumble return and a Zayne Fornear seven-yard run.

The Bulldogs (1-1) continue their homestand next week with a new Week 3 opponent- Booneville, Ind.

"Booneville is scary," Way said. "They've got a new coach this year and about 18 seniors and most of them were starters last year. But it still keeps coming back to we have to take care of ourselves. Right now we aren't doing that."

Du Quoin 0 0 7 7 - 14

Harrisburg 0 13 0 8 - 21

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

HBG - Vallette 30 interception return (Owen kick), 7:34

HBG - Marler 3 run (kick failed), 2:24

Third Quarter

DQ - Bullar 88 fumble return (Johnson kick), 8:36

Fourth Quarter

DQ - Fornear 7 run (Johnson kick), 7:22

HBG - Upchurch 4 run (Stephens run), 1:30

Team Statistics

DQ HBG

First Downs 8 19

Total Net Yards 175 287

Rushes-Yards 34-162 56-222

Passing 13 65

Comp-Att-Int 3-17-2 4-9-0

Penalties-Yards 6-60 5-40

Fumbles Lost 0 1

Individual Statistics

Rushing - DQ: Fornear 18-108, Vogel 3-6, Clarry 6-21, Ford 1-3, Provart 6-24. HBG - Tylor Marler 17-99, Kane Carrigan 13-66, Aaron Stephens 8-41, Matt Upchurch 4-17.

Passing - DQ: Vogel 3-17-2 13. HBG: Noah Vallette 4-9-0 65.

Receiving - DQ: Bullar 2-9, Hopkins 1-4. HBG: Corbin Crim-Harbison 3-61, Tylor Marler 1-4.