Anna-Jonesboro hands Du Quoin its first loss

DU QUOIN -- After honoring one of the past undefeated teams of Du Quoin High School's storied football history for the second straight week, the current Indians fell from the ranks of the unbeaten Friday night at Van Metre Field.
Like the 1968 team that was honored a week earlier and the 1988 team that was introduced Friday night, this year's Du Quoin football squad was unscathed through the first six weeks.
And it was looking like seven with a two-score lead both at halftime and early in the fourth quarter on Anna-Jonesboro in a huge SIRR Mississippi Division clash, but the Wildcats recovered an onside kick and converted a gutsy two-point conversion to stun the Indians, 36-35, and remain unbeaten in the conference.
A-J is now 5-2 overall and 4-0 in the SIRR Mississippi with five straight wins since losing to West Frankfort and Murphysboro in the opening weeks.
Du Quoin fell to 6-1 and now has a 3-1 league record and will need help to share the title with Anna-Jonesboro.
"Ever since I've been a coach here, we've been in some great games with Anna-Jonesboro," said Du Quoin coach A.J. Hill. "It was no different tonight. That's what happens. We had a couple opportunities to put the game away with maybe one more score."
It looked like another win after Du Quoin picked up a huge fourth-and-2 and then Westly Milam jetted 53 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-21 with just under 10 minutes left.
Damien Chrisp, who rushed 33 ties for 158 yards, brought the Wildcats within 35-28 with a 3-yard touchdown, his second score of the night.
Then the Wildcats attempted an onside kick that bounced off a Du Quoin player, popped up into the air and dropped into the hands of Anna-Jonesboro's Kyle McMahan at the 46-yard line.
Reid Morrison, who ran the ball 14 time for 65 yards, scored on a 9-yard touchdown six players later to make it a one-point game. But instead of sending out kicker Noah Treece, A-J went for two and handed the ball to Morrison for the conversion and the lead.
Du Quoin had the ball last but A-J's Devon Toliver intercepted a pass on fourth down to seal it.
"Give credit to Anna," Hill said. "They were down a couple scores and they're always a well-coached football team. They never quit playing. That's a good football team. Their two losses are to two good football teams. So we just have to get better and learn from it."
A-J quarterback Connor Jerolds rushed 16 times for an even 100 yards and completed just 2 of 7 passes, but both were for touchdowns -- a 28-yarder to Morrison and a 21-yard score to Tyler Smith.
Milam had 15 carries for 180 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown for Du Quoin's first score. After the Wildcats answered, Shamar Adams broke free for a 78-yard TD to put the Indians back in front.
Braeden Pursell then recovered a fumble to give Du Quoin the ball and Josh Heape threw a 12-yard score to Anthony Cole, one of their two touchdown connections, and Du Quoin had a 21-7 lead at the half.
Following the first touchdown by Chrisp, a 6-yard-run, Heape and Cole hooked up for a 19-yard score and the Indians were up 28-14 with 11:52 remaining.
McMahan returned the ensuing kickoff to the Du Quoin 23-yard line and Jerolds found Smith to slice the lead to 28-21 after a kick by Treece.
Hill was asked if the Indians' defense played tired in the second half.
"I think maybe," he said. "It kind of looked like that without seeing it on film. (A-J) ran the same play four straight times and I would have too if I were in the situation where it was working like that.
"I think (the defense) did get wore down a little and sometimes when you've got the momentum and you go into cruise control, it's tough to get back into that mindset that you had when you were getting them off the field. Because they were just as tired. All those linemen were going both ways."
One of Du Quoin's biggest offensive weapons this season, Dasani Edward, had just one catch. Jacob Green and Cole both caught three passes. Heape was 6-for-15 for 110 yards, the two touchdowns and the final interception.
The Indians play at Nashville this Friday to finish the conference schedule and need the Wildcats to lose at home against Sparta. Du Quoin finishes the regular season with a tough test at Murphysboro.
"It sucks but we can learn from this," Hill said. "We're a young team. How do we respond from it? That determines what we can do the rest of the way. That's a good football team we just played and we have two more good teams to play to finish the season.
"We have to get better. We can't start doing things that we haven't done all season. ... We have to stay focused on what we can still accomplish."
-- Doug Daniels contributed to this report