FOOTBALL: Du Quoin wins emotionally-charged battle with Pinckneyville

Pinckneyville had a fourth-quarter lead slip away for the second week in a row and Du Quoin grabbed their second victory of the season with Friday night's 22-18 win over the Panthers at Quillman Field, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 5:28 to play on a 19-yard run by quarterback A.J. Smith.

After the emotionally-charged match-up, Du Quoin head coach Al Martin praised his players' ability to keep their cool while even members of his staff, at times, could not.

"We just told the kids thanks for their effort because they had a great effort," Martin said after the game. "They kept their composure, and they kept their composure throughout the entire game. As coaches we told them that we appreciated it."

On the other side, Panthers head coach Todd Thomas now must get his team back on track after Pinckneyville fell to 3-2 after a three-game winning streak to start the season. The loss obviously puts a dent in PCHS's playoff hopes.

"It's a tough ball game," Thomas said. "I thought it was a very physical game. They were 1-3 but had played a brutal schedule, I knew coming in that it was going to be tough. They punched it in when they had to and we didn't."

The momentum swung back and forth throughout the night, with the Panthers capitalizing on their first offensive possession by driving 93 yards on ten plays and scoring with Trent Hicks' 12-yard touchdown run with just under six minutes gone by.

Pinckneyville's defense kept the Indians out of Panther territory on both of Du Quoin's first quarter possessions, but early in the second period DHS got into the red zone and had a first-and-ten at the PCHS 15-yard line. From there, Brock Bullar nearly tied the game on a touchdown run, but was ruled to have fumbled the ball attempting to hit the pylon as he was tackled near the sideline. The ball traveled into the end zone for a touchback and a turnover.

It didn't take long for Du Quoin to get it back. On the Panthers' next play, Clayton Houghland fumbled it back to the Indians attempting to make a throw. Spencer Kuhnert recovered for DHS at the Pinckneyville 8-yard line, and then Lane Valier fought his way into the end zone to tie the game at 6-6 with 8:30 left in the first half.

The Indians built off of that score by forcing a three-and-out on defense, then used a dozen plays to go 55 yards with Valier again finding paydirt, this time with a six-yard touchdown run. He also made it in on the two-point try, giving DHS a 14-6 edge.

But Pinckneyville answered right back, needing only five plays to do so. Adam Banach hauled in two passes from Houghland on the 42-yard drive including a 5-yard TD, bringing the Panthers to within two. A failed two-point conversion left the Indians up 14-12 with 31.5 seconds to play before the break.

Each team fumbled it away on their first possession of the second half, and after Du Quoin's turnover, the Indians' sideline was flagged for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that riled up visiting Tribe fans as well as the DHS staff.

The fireworks didn't end there, though. After Du Quon's Lane Valier picked off a pass inside the red zone and a holding penalty was called on the run-back, another flag was thrown on the DHS sideline that sent several Indian coaches and at least one administrator into a fury, with some being physically held back to avoid further confrontation.

"We're disappointed in a lot of things," Martin said of the unusual situation. "We're disappointed in ourselves as coaches, but we're disappointed in some other things also. You'd think in this day and age you wouldn't have to do that. It's frustrating. It's disappointing. We're disappointed in how we handled some things, we're disappointed in some other things as well."

The smoke eventually cleared and the third quarter ended without a scoring play, and on the first play of the fourth quarter Tristan Fisher returned a Du Quoin punt to the Indians' 21-yard line. Five plays later, Hicks scored from two yards out to give the Panthers the lead at 18-14.

The Indians caught a break on the ensuing kickoff, as the kick forced one of Bullar's feet into the end zone, but he was allowed to return the ball to the Du Quoin 33-yard line. An 11-play, 67-yard drive followed with Smith running hard up the middle for a 19-yard touchdown with 5:28 to go. The quarterback completed several key passes on the go-ahead drive, finding Bullar, Levi Brening and Jacob Hunziker for first downs along the way.

"They execute," Thomas said of the Indians. "On film, I knew they were pretty good offensively. The quarterback throws the ball well, he's got good receivers, and they do a good job with play action, so that's a tough mix to stop."

The Panthers tried to answer, but saw their drive stall just past midfield. Houghland was brought down by Du Quoin's Devin Jones on a fourth-and-fifteen play, turning the ball over and allowing the Indians to run out the clock after picking up a first down on a fourth-and-one run by Valier.

"We thought we could block it," Martin said. "They were boxing everything down inside, we tried to get it a little bit outside, and we got it."

Valier carried 25 times for 81 yards to lead DHS's 153-yard rushing attack. Smith ran it nine times for 66 yards, and completed 17-of-22 throws for 147 yards. He connected with Brening (6 catches, 47 yards), Bullar (4-49), Hunziker (4-23) and Jarred Thomas (2-15).

Hicks led the Panthers on the ground with 62 yards on 12 attempts. Banach (5-40), Alex Howard (5-32), Dalton Peradotto (5-17), Caulden Lazenby (6-10) and Gabe Yearian (2-10) also contributed to Pinckneyville's 170 rushing yards. Houghland was 8-for-10 passing for 95 yards, completing passes to Fisher (5-38) and Banach (3-57).

In week five, the Indians (2-3, 1-1) host Sparta (3-2, 1-1) and the Panthers (3-2, 0-2) travel to Anna-Jonesboro (2-3, 0-2).