Du Quoin scores 26-6 victory over Wildcats

Anna-Jonesboro was trailing host Du Quoin by a 12-6 margin early in the final quarter of a key high school football conference matchup last Friday night.

The Indians went on to score a pair of touchdowns on their way to a 26-6 victory.

With the victory, Du Quoin earned a 2009 Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference title.

“They’re very talented, well-coached and have a lot of numbers,” A-J coach Brett Detering said. “But we had some opportunities and didn’t make the most of them.”

The Indians improved to 7-1 overall and clinched the league title with a 4-0 mark.

The Wildcats fell to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

A crucial play in the game came after A-J pulled within a TD early in the final quarter.

After forcing the Indians to punt, a Wildcat receiver touched the ball on the  return. The Indians recovered and took over at A-J’s 13-yard line.

“It was just an unfortunate bounce on a short kick,” Detering said. “It wasn’t his (the receiver’s) fault – he tried to get out of the way.”

Du Quoin fullback David Gayton culminated a five-play drive by scoring a touchdown on a 6-yard run.

Quarterback Matt Gossett passed to Marcus Clarry for the conversion points and Du Quoin led 20-6 with 8:22 remaining in the game.

A-J’s Michael Dillman sacked Gossett for a loss on a fourth down play to halt the next Indian drive.

The Wildcats then drove again deep into Indian territory before turning the ball over on an incomplete pass on fourth down.

In two plays, Gayton scored on an 8-yard run. Cayle Diggins kicked the extra point to close out the scoring with 3:25 remaining.

The Wildcats looked impressive on their opening drive of the game.

A-J, which held the ball for most of the first quarter, took over after a punt and drove the length of the field on a 13-play drive before running back Gabe Pecord was halted on fourth down  at the Indians’ 16-yard line.

“We did a nice job of controlling the tempo the first quarter,” Detering said. “It’s unfortunate we came up short.”

Following an 8-play drive that began at the end of the opening quarter, Du Quoin’s Gossett passed to James Williams for a 41-yard TD strike.

The extra point kick failed and the Indians led 6-0 with 11:51 remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats fumbled on their ensuing drive and the Indians drove to A-J’s 4-yard line  before being stopped.

After A-J was forced to punt, Du Quoin engineered a 7-play drive that was capped by an 8-yard TD strike from Gossett to Clarry. The kick failed again and the Indians led 12-0 with 2:07 remaining in the first half.

After each team traded a pair of punts apiece in the third quarter, the Wildcat offense finally came to life.

Fullback Jordan Chamness scored on a 15-yard run at the end of a 7-play drive. The extra point kick failed and A-J pulled to 12-6 with 11:16 remaining in the final quarter.

The Wildcats had four fumbles and the Indians recovered two.

“We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the football,” Detering said.

Pecord had 52 yards rushing in 11 carries to lead A-J’s 142-yard rushing attack.

Chamness added 50 yards in 14 carries and J.R. Woodward had 35 yards in 9 carries.

Woodward was 5 of 12 passing for 42 yards with no interceptions.

“We knew going in the yards were going to be tough,” Detering said.

The Indians rushed for 240 yards and had 117 yards passing.