FOOTBALL: Indians, Hornets meet for Mississippi Crown

It was entertaining. It was a roller coaster of emotions. It was, particularly in the final 3:09, an action-packed and somewhat bizarre flourish of offense.

Du Quoin snuck out of 'The Pit' in Anna last week with a 42-38 victory after four lead changes in the final period, and after the Indians had coughed up a 21-point lead at the half.

"We just tried keeping them positive on the sideline," said DHS head football coach A.J. Hill. "Us coaches knew at halftime when we were up 28-7, it didn't feel comfortable, so I think it was just trying to stay positive. Right after (Anna-Jonesboro) scored that last touchdown, I heard a couple offensive linemen on the sideline being as positive as can be, and I thought that was a good sign for what was going to come. A couple seniors, a couple guys doing a good job, that was good to see. They just kind of hung in there, they've been that way all year."

The final go-ahead touchdown was scored when Brock Bullar somehow got behind the Anna-Jonesboro defense for a 74-yard completion from quarterback Caleb Vogel. It left many wondering how in the world the Wildcats could let Bullar slip through the secondary for the big play.

"I think they were worried about Devin (Jones) a little bit, their safety favored that side of the field," Hill said. "Bullar just ran a seam and got behind the guy and Vogel hit him, it was a good play. I didn't expect it to happen that way, I thought we'd have to complete some balls and get down for a shot at the end zone, but I'll take it."

That play covered up what was another lackluster performance by the Indians' kickoff team, which much like they did against Sparta a week earlier, gave the ball to the Wildcats in good field position for most of the night.

"That's been something we've struggled with this year," said Hill. "We've coached the crap out of it during the week. We got a little better last week, but it wasn't great. Our kicker did what we asked him to do, our coverage was a little off. Our punt team did a good job of getting on and off the field. Edwards needs to speed up a little bit, but the most part we did a good job of executing the snap and the kick."

There was one area of special teams that doesn't appear to need much polishing, however - the extra point unit. In his second week as the team's kicker, Bullar nailed all six extra points including the final one to put the team up by four. That's a key number, because the Wildcats have a kicker more than capable of a lengthy field goal try.

"We kicked 6-for-6 extra points, and the last one Bullar kicked might have been the most over-looked stat of the night because that put us up four," Hill said. "Every point is important. It doesn't matter if it's and extra point, some guys think they can take a play off, so it's just getting guys to realize how big of a play that is. I think Friday night kind of proved to us and our team how big those six extra points were."

The win means the Indians will play for a Mississippi Division title this Friday night against the Nashville Hornets at Van Metre Field. It might be the biggest game of any current Indian's career. Hill said he hasn't had to do much motivating - the players are well aware of what's at stake.

"They know what is on the line and that's a chance at a playoff berth and a conference championship," said Hill. "Both things we haven't done since 2012, so none of these kids have won a conference championship and none of them have played in the playoffs. They're excited. We didn't really have to do much to get them ready to go this week. You could kind of feel it at practice that they knew what was on the line and they were practicing like it."

Nashville has gotten off to a 6-1 start with a recipe for success that focuses around big man Royce Newman, a senior tight end that has signed with the University of Missouri to be an offensive lineman next fall. At 6'7 and somewhere around 275 pounds, not many teams have a guy that stacks up to Newman's size. But at 6'4, 240, Du Quoin's Devin Jones might be as close as it gets in terms of size and athletic ability in the conference.

"For us, Devin is working with our first team defense and first team offense, and just our guys going against somebody like Devin day in and day out, kind of gives them a little bit of a simulation of what it will be like Friday night (with Newman)," said Hill.

"We can't just focus on him, they've got a lot of other weapons that they use very well. Schultze and Schnitker are both really good backs. We've got to make sure we do a good job of limiting the big plays. They'll throw it up to Newman, and he's 6'7, he's going to make a couple catches over you, it's just going to happen. We've got to limit the run after the catch."