The Indians were down to the last 12 minutes of the 2021 season, trailing the Murphysboro Red Devils and watching their playoff hopes slipping away. Du Quoin was OK with playoff points, but they needed that all-important fifth win on the season to advance to the postseason.
The coaches and players dug down deep, rallying for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat playoff bound Murphysboro, 28-14, at Van Metre Field and punching their ticket to the 3A football playoffs.
"We stressed we can't worry about the win or the loss and for them to play for and have fun with their teammates," said Du Quoin Head Coach Derek Beard. "Our kids were just looking forward to doing that and letting everything else take care of itself."
The 10th-seeded Indians take their 5-4 record on the road at 2 p.m. Saturday to play seventh seed Carlinville (7-2) of the South Central Conference. The Cavaliers have made the playoffs 20 times since 2000 missing only once in 2006 with a 3-6 record and, of course, the spring season when there was no playoffs. Chad Easterday has been head coach since 2008, and he led the Cavaliers to a second-place finish in 2016.
"I don't know a lot about Carlinville," Beard said. "I know the South Central is a pretty solid conference. We're going to play a good football team and we're going to be on the road, so we just have to get a week better."
The Indians have met the Cavaliers twice in the postseason beating Carlinville 14-8 in the fourth round in 1994 and 35-14 in the third round of the 2001 playoffs.
On Friday, quarterback David Lee had a superlative game for the Indians, throwing for two touchdowns and running for two more. The senior completed 7-of-13 passes for 109 yards with a long pass of 34 yards. He also rushed for 51 yards on 15 carries with a long run of 24 yards.
After a scoreless first quarter Lee scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Joey Wood kicked the extra point and the Indians led 7-0.
Murphysboro scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead at the half.
"We played well in the second half," Beard said. "We were down 14-7 at the half and Murphysboro had just scored two quick touchdowns on jet sweeps. We couldn't stop it. We talked to our guys on being more aggressive on the perimeter and coming up and taking on blocks and setting the edge, so we were able to shut down their run game.
"Aiden Bradley played a fantastic second half. He had 16 tackles. Once we did that they struggled to move the ball. We weren't moving the ball a whole lot in first half and it was kind of a different story for us in the second half. We got the ball on the perimeter a little bit. David Lee completed some big passes and Jonathan Hamilton had some big runs for us. I think we really controlled the line of scrimmage in the second half."
Lee scored on his second one-yard touchdown run in the third, but the two-point conversion failed leaving the Indians down 14-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
With the season on the line Lee went to work through the air, tossing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Nishan Woody. Hamilton ran in the two-point conversion and the Indians regained the lead 21-14.
Lee and Caden Hutchens hooked up for a 30-yard touchdown pass and Wood kicked the point to up the lead to 28-14 with nine minutes left.
Hamilton led the Indians in rushing with 59 yards on just five carries with along run of 31 yards. Nick Brown returned from a two-game absence with an injury to carry the ball eight times for 23 yards and catch two passes for 10 yards.
"Nick's stats weren't big numbers, but he made some nice runs that we were able to move the ball down the field with," Beard said. "He also made a nice catch on a pass route on the perimeter that opened up the run game for us."
Hutchens caught two passes for 64 yards and Ethan Hill caught two passes for 22 yards with a long catch of 19 yards.
Game stats
Du Quoin 28, Murphysboro 14
Du Quoin, 00 07 06 15 -- 28
Murphysboro, 00 14 00 00 -- 14
First Downs: DQ 13, MB 13.
Penalties: DQ 4-15, MB 2-5.
Fumbles Lost: DQ 0, MB 2.
DQ rushing: Jonathan Hamilton 5-59, David Lee 15-51-2TD, Nick Brown 8-23, Jaden Smith 2-18, Gabe Adams 2-2.
DQ passing: David Lee 7-13-0int-109-2TD.
DQW receiving: Caden Hutchens 2-64-1TD, Ethan Hill 2-22, Nick Brown 2-10, Nishan Woody 1-13-1TD.
