Wildcats fall to host Panthers Friday
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">All the scoring in the Anna-Jonesboro Community High School football game was saved for the final quarter last Friday night, Oct. 2.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">But the Wildcats could only manage one touchdown in that eventful quarter and lost to host Pinckneyville 14-7.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I don’t know if we played our best game,” A-J coach Brett Detering said. “Our defense gave up 14 points and we kind of feel we should have won.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Pinckneyville improved to 4-2 overall and A-J fell to 2-4.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Panthers opened the final quarter at the end of a 10-play drive that was capped by a 6-yard run by Alex Howard. Dylan Carns’ extra point kick boosted Pinckneyville to a 7-0 lead with 9:13 remaining in the final period.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The drive was centered around a 26-yard pass from quarterback Clayton Hougland to Carns.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We had a chance to make a defensive stop on third and goal from the six and we didn’t do it,” Detering said. “It does change the outlook.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats further shot themselves in the foot on the next drive when they were forced to punt deep in their own territory.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We didn’t finish drives and special teams hurt us,” Detering added. “We had some mistakes on offense.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A bad center snap allowed the Panthers to recover the ball deep in A-J territory.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Two plays later, Hougland scored on a 1-yard plunge. Carns’ extra point kick boosted the Panthers to a 14-0 lead with 6:44 remaining in the game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats next drive was thwarted midfield and after the Panthers were forced to punt, A-J’s offense finally got rolling.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Quarterback Jake Stark connected with Collin Prather for a 65-yard touchdown strike on the first play.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Dakota Earnhart’s extra point kick pulled A-J to 14-7 with 4:20 remaining in the game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Collin found a seam in the middle and cut it to 14-7,” Detering noted.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">However, Pinckneyville held the ball the rest of the game when time expired.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Neither team could mount much offensive threat in the first half.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">However, the second half was completely different.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats opened the second half with a lengthy drive that stalled when Trenton Turner was halted on a fourth down play at the 4-yard line.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We started the drive on the 30 and went all the way down to the 4,” Detering said. “That should have been a big score and we didn’t put it on the board. It was a big momentum shift.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J’s lengthy drive consumed 7:22 of the third quarter.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Panthers first score came following that crucial stop at the goal line.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats were hit with a rash of injuries in the game to Ryan Hileman, Nick Jimenez and Clover. All their status was unknown for this weekend’s game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We have a lot of guys sidelined with injuries,” said Detering, who noted with a lack of depth on the team that has created problems with some players never leaving the field.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Pinckneyville had 159 yards rushing and 89 yards passing.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J was held to 135 yards rushing with Alec Gold leading the way with 114 yards in 27 carries.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Quarterback Stark was limited to 1 of 9 for 65 yards passing with two interceptions.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We’re much better moving on the ground,” Detering said. “It seems to fit our personnel better.”</span></p>