FOOTBALL: Big play late lifts Harrisburg over Du Quoin

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," said Way. "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."

Crim-Harbison had a height advantage over the two Du Quoin defenders nearest to him, Brock Bullar and Cole Hopkins, giving him the edge on the hail mary heave.

"They don't go to (Crim-Harbison) a whole lot, but we knew he was a special athlete," said Indians head coach A.J. Hill. "He's one of those kids they're going to give five or six chances a game to just out-athlete somebody else, and that's what he did on that play. Looking back we need to bat the ball down in that situation, fourth-and-twelve from near midfield. We were in a good position to make a play on it, we could have gotten a little better pass rush, but it was tough. You've got to give it up to Harrisburg - and Crim, he made a nice play - they had a good game plan for us."

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.

But the Indians refused to go quietly. With 8:36 to go in the third quarter, Du Quoin's Brock Bullar took a fumble return 88 yards to the end zone to get DHS on the board. Kameron Johnson's extra point made it 13-7.

Du Quoin then put together a drive early in the fourth quarter that led to a seven-yard touchdown run by Zayne Fornear to help push the Indians in front by a point. Caleb Vogel kept the drive alive with a fourth-down run to pick up a new set of downs as the Indians continued to wear down the Bulldogs' defense.

"We knew at halftime we were wearing them down a little bit," Hill said. "They played some guys up front both ways, and we have the luxury of being able to try and keep guys fresh on both sides of the ball, so that played to our advantage. We were able to wear them down and just punch one in."

"Zayne Fornear continues to do a great job. He's a year older, a year more mature, he's really starting to see things a lot better than he did last year. He's a big physical kid with a little speed. Our run game has been solid and we have a nice balance. We've still got four or five guys we can throw in there that I feel comfortable running."

Vogel, a junior making just his second varsity start at quarterback, had a rough game under center completing just 3-of-17 passes with a pair of interceptions. A lack of protection early in the game hindered his ability to get off to a strong start like he did in Du Quoin's week one victory.

"Harrisburg had a good game plan, and we really struggled until the second half to adjust and be able to protect," Hill said. "They kind of confused our offensive linemen a little bit in the first half. We were really struggling to pass protect, so Vogel was under some heat in the first half. He's a green quarterback, he's new. He made a couple throws that maybe a veteran, a kid that's started before and played some games wouldn't have made, but he's going to learn from it."

Harrisburg's Kane Carrigan ran for 66 yards and Aaron Stephens added 41 yards on the ground.

Fornear led Du Quoin with 108 yards on 18 carries. Vogel (3 carries, 6 yards), Bryce Clarry (6-21), Jaiden Provart (6-24) and Dylan Ford (1-3) also ran the ball for the Indians. Bullar (2 catches, 9 yards) and Hopkins (1-4) caught passes from Vogel.