FOOTBALL: Indians beat Nashville to clinch conference title, playoff spot
For the first time since 2012, the Indians are heading to the IHSA football postseason. The Du Quoin-Elverado co-op earned its' first conference championship and the automatic berth to the playoffs on Friday night with a 28-7 win over Nashville at Van Metre Field for their fourth victory in their last five games.
Du Quoin finished the Mississippi Division slate with a 4-1 record, the same as Carterville, but thanks to their win over the Lions in week four, it's the Indians who get the nod to play in week ten. They'll officially share the conference crown with Carterville, making it the Indians' first SIRR Missippippi title also since 2012.
"It's big for the kids," said first-year DHS coach A.J. Hill, "it's big for Du Quoin to get back in the playoffs and win the conference for the first time since 2012. None of these kids on this team have ever experienced a playoff game and never won a conference championship, so it's big for our kids and the confidence of this team moving forward after a couple of down years."
Du Quoin running back Zayne Fornear continued his torrid pace carrying the football, topping the 100-yard mark for the eighth game in a row to begin the season. He's now rushed for 1,245 yards and 17 touchdowns, astonishing totals for a team with a minimum of two games remaining.
In the early-going, the Hornets appeared to have the upper hand. Du Quoin was stopped on a fourth down play at the Nashville 10-yard line on the game's opening drive and the Hornets took the ball right down the field for a 12-play, 90 yard scoring possession. All dozen plays were on the ground, including a fourth-and-goal 1-yard touchdown run by Kyle Schnitker, and Nashville was up 7-0 just before the end of the first quarter.
From there, however, the Indians' defense was on point. After giving up those 90 yards, Du Quoin allowed only 81 the rest of the game while their offense slowly but surely wore down the Hornets' defensive unit.
"It almost felt like last year and 'here we go again," Hill said. "It's hard to simulate what Nashville does, so I think it took our kids a couple drives to get used to the speed of what they were doing. They recognized everything, they just weren't used to them getting off the ball and getting into them that quickly. They made some nice adjustments and we had a good defensive game plan."
It began moments after Nashville's lone touchdown. It wasn't Fornear's legs, but Vogel's arm that did most of the work on the Indians' 11-play, 74-yard drive, finishing it off with a 10-yard pass to Dylan Ford in the end zone for six points. The extra point was blocked and the Hornets clung to a 7-6 lead all the way to the half. On the drive, Vogel completed 6-of-7 balls for 57 yards. He finished the game 8-for-13 with 72 yards passing.
Nashville turned it over on downs in Indian territory on the first possession of the second half before the two teams traded punts and Du Quoin took over on their own 35-yard line with 3:38 to go in the third period. This time running backs Fornear and Bryce Clarry carried the load, using just six plays to go 65 yards including Fornear's 3-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed and DHS led 12-7 near the end of the quarter.
Nashville's 6'7 tight end Royce Newman, a Mizzou commit, was stripped of the ball by Noah Barnes on the Hornets' next drive and the Indians recovered in enemy territory at the 42. Eight running plays later, Fornear was back in the end zone again, this time from 9 yards out. He took in the two-pointer as well, giving Du Quoin a 20-7 lead with 9:12 to play.
"We just got back in the I-formation and mixed some wishbone in there, and we were getting them for 4 here, 6 there," Hill said. "Our offensive line had some confidence, we were getting a surge out of them. We had the luxury of not playing guys both ways this year on the line, and I think that showed Friday night, especially in the second half."
Another Hornet fumble gave the Indians the ball back at Nashville's 29-yard line just 11 seconds later. Vogel connected with Brock Bullar for an 11-yard score and the dagger with 5:39 to go.
The point-after attempt put an exclamation point on the victory, as a high snap forced holder Cole Hopkins to roll out to his left. He faked a pass into the end zone that got the defender to bite before diving into the end zone for two, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
"That was just Cole taking a bad snap and being Cole," said Hill. "He's a little guy, but he's got a big motor. He makes big plays like that all the time. He's hard-nosed and you never know what he's going to do sometimes."
In addition to Fornear's totals, Clarry (9 carries, 50 yards), Ford (4-17), Bullar (1-22) and Anthony Spiller (3-6) contributed to Du Quoin's 221 rushing yards. Vogel completed passes to Hopkins (2-13), Ford (1-10), Bullar (1-11), Devin Jones (1-7) and Jordan Edwards (3-31).
The Indians (5-3, 4-1) will host one of the area's top teams in week nine, the Murphysboro Red Devils (7-1).