FOOTBALL: Turnovers haunt Indians in two-point loss to Herrin
Despite four turnovers, a number that could've been higher, the Du Quoin Indians football team still nearly knocked off a high-powered Herrin team at Van Metre Field on Friday night - but almost doesn't count for much.
Herrin overcame its own rash of mistakes and remained unbeaten with an ugly 20-18 win that also saw the state-ranked Tigers lose starting defensive back Tre Mason to a gruesome elbow dislocation.
Du Quoin (1-2) showed it wasn't scared with a defensive stand to start the game and then scoring first when Zayne Fornear punched in the first touchdown at the 6:33 mark of the first quarter.
But the Indians missed the extra-point kick, which would become a theme for the night. Du Quoin didn't convert any of its two-point conversions either, leaving five total points on the field in a two-point loss.
Herrin was also stopped on two conversions, including after D.J. Spell caught an 8-yard pass from Gavin Pickel to tie the game with 2:15 left in the opening period.
The Tigers led 14-6 at halftime as Blake Starkweather's short TD run - and a conversion connection between Pickel and Spell - provided the only points of the second quarter.
Turnovers hurt the Indians in the first half and again after intermission. Du Quoin fumbled six times in the game and lost four of them, but none hurt worse than when quarterback Caleb Vogel was stripped after a nice gain - and nearly being down by contact - and Herrin's John Vaughn picked up the ball and rumbled 83 yards for a touchdown with 8:18 left in the third quarter.
"If we don't turn the ball over four times, we might win by a couple touchdowns the way things were going offensively," said Du Quoin coach A.J. Hill. "Really we felt confident the whole night in what we were doing. The second quarter, we only had the ball about eight plays and it's tough to win when your defense is on the field that long and when your offense is making the mistakes we were making.
"And, we were still in it. So there's definitely some positives we can take out of this game. We fought back when we could've probably thrown the towel in and we didn't do it. We've done that two weeks in a row and I think that says a lot about our football team."
The Indians trailed 20-6 after the fumble return but a 73-yard jaunt by Fornear put them back in the game - although missing on the conversion hurt. Herrin had its own turnover issues and Pickel was picked off by Tucker Kuhnert in the fourth quarter, leading to a 3-yard touchdown by Anthony Spiller to make it 20-18 with 3:04 left.
Even though the Tigers brought down Vogel on the conversion attempt, the Indians still had another chance to win the game.
Herrin's fourth turnover on a missed pitch exchange gave Du Quoin the ball and Vogel moved the Indians to the 49-yard line. The game came down to a fourth-and-8 play with 1:11 left on the clock and Vogel looked for Brock Bullar over the middle but the throw was to off target - and Pickel was defending tightly on the play.
Herrin (3-0) ran out the remaining time with kneeldowns.
"Like I said, if we don't turn it over four times, I'm a little happier right now," Hill said. "But hey, we play a lot of young guys and a lot of first-year starters and they're learning and getting better. So there are a lot of things we can take from this game."
The Indians focused defensively on Herrin's Gavyn Gosha and limited the big back to 63 yards on 14 carries, with 34 of them coming on one big play in the fourth quarter. Pickel rushed 11 times for 58 yards and was 10-of-19 passing for 70 yards - to six different receivers - with one touchdown and one interception.
"We weren't very good offensively tonight but that's all the credit to Du Quoin," said Herrin coach Jason Karnes, a Du Quoin product. "They had a great game plan. That's a very good ballclub. Coach Hill and his staff do a great job and they were prepared. They probably outcoached and outplayed us. We were very lucky to get out of here (with a win) but when we had to, we made plays."
Fornear ran the ball 25 times for 159 yards, while Vogel had seven carries for 32 yards and was 4 of 8 passing for 20 yards - four of his completions lost yardage - and fullback Bryce Clarry had five totes for 53 yards.
Herrin opens SIRR Ohio Division play this coming Friday at Benton, while Du Quoin begins play on the Mississippi side with a road game at Carterville, which is coming off a whipping at the hands of Murphysboro, the team Du Quoin faces in Week 9.