Indians are 'IN'
DQ picks up 28-14 win on Senior Night, playoff bound at 5-4
10-22-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
DUQUOIN - Needing a win on the final night of the season, the DuQuoin Indians needed a big effort from their offensive and defensive lines.

Coach Derek Beard got everything he wanted and needed from his crew on Senior Night.

DuQuoin won the battle of the trenches, especially in the second half, in its come-from-behind 28-14 victory over Murphysboro.

“Our guys up front did a great job. Even in the first half it was tough sledding but we were able to open some things up in the second half,” said Coach Beard. “We got the ball on the perimeter a little bit and got them (Murphysboro) moving side-to-side and it opened some things up for us.”

The triumph moved the Tribe into playoff position at 5-4 on the season.

Playing a pretty tough schedule has actually paid dividends as the Indians will make their sixth consecutive playoff appearance and second-straight under Coach Beard.

“I feel like our schedule prepares us well and we have played some good teams. We've played 2A, 3A and 4A teams and we will be prepared to play in the playoffs,” said Coach Beard.

Six-foot, 190 senior quarterback and leader David Lee did a bit of everything on this night, leading his club the win.

Lee had something to do with all four of the touchdowns in the Indians' victory.

His numbers included a 7-of-14 performance for 111-yards and a pair of touchdown passes in the air while rushing 18 times for 64-yards and two TD's on the ground.

Battling through a leg injury early in the game, Lee wouldn't let his team down.

“Our coaches talked to us (at halftime) and it was the best thing ever. I've never been that fired up in my life,” said Lee. “All week we prepared, the seniors came together, we're all close, we love each other.”

Lee had help on the ground with Jonathan Hamilton, a 5-foot-9, 185 junior tailback running five times for 59-yards, including a 31-yard scamper.

In fact DuQuoin had seven rushes of over 10-yards in the contest.

Jaden Smith, a 5-foot-10 160 wide receiver, carried the ball twice for 18-yards.

Four different receivers caught passes from Lee with Caden Hutchens and Nishan Woody being the recipients of the two touchdown passes.

Caden Hutchens, a 5-foot-10 senior, caught two passes for 64-yards, which included a 30-yard TD.

Ethan Hill, a 6-foot-1, 180 senior tight end/linebacker, added nine tackles on defense and caught a pair of Lee passes for 23-yards.

Six-foot senior Nishan Woody caught the other Lee TD pass on a 13-yard reception.

Defensively the Indians got 16 total tackles (10 solo) from by 6-foot, 160 junior defensive back Aiden Bradley.

The Tribe forced four Red Devils' turnovers in the win.

For Murphysboro and head coach Gary Carter, they had already clinched a playoff berth with six-wins but they were hoping to spoil the DQ senior night and for a half it looked like they just might finish the regular season with seven.

The Red Devils scored a couple of second quarter touchdowns and led 14-7 at the half.

Two of the bright spots on the night for Murphysboro were Calvon Clemons and Devon Clemons.

Calvon, a 5-foot-8, 170 senior, led all rushers on the night, carrying the ball 18 times for 108 yards with six of the attempts producing over 10-yards.

Devon, a 5-foot-8, 180 junior ended up with 13 attempts for 50-yards.

Another standout was Ethan Finke, a 6-foot, 190 junior, who scored both of the Red Devils' touchdowns in the second quarter.

He finished with 12 rushing attempts for 94-yards.

Five-foot-eleven, 170 junior quarterback Drew Caldwell ended up just 6-of-11 passing for 23-yards and a pair of key interceptions as the Indians bottled up the Murphysboro passing game on Friday night.

After a lackluster first quarter, DuQuoin went on their first scoring drive of the game to take the lead.

Taking over on their own 31-yard line after a Red Devils' punt, DQ marched 69-yards on nine-plays.

Lee got things going with a run up the middle on a run-pass-option for 13-yards.

In the drive Lee found Hill for a 20-yard completion to the Murphysboro 32.

Three of the rushes in this drive came from 5-foot-10, 175 senior Nick Brown.

Those three attempts accumulated 18-yards and a run up the middle by Hamilton put the Indians on the Murphysboro 1-yard line.

Lee did the rest with a quarterback sneak to put the Tribe on the scoreboard.

A successful PAT by sophomore Joey Wood gave the hosts a 7-0 lead with 4:04 left in the half.

As it turned out, the Red Devils needed just :30 to answer.

Taking the next kickoff to the DuQuoin 47, Coach Carter's club required just four plays to reach the end zone.

Finke ran the ball twice in the short drive, once for 22-yards on the first snap and then he finished the drive by breaking three tackles on his was for an eight-yard touchdown run.

The PAT from freshman kicker AJ Boese evened the score at 7-7 at the 3:34 mark.

On its next possession, DQ had a fumble on a third-and-one from their own 28-yard line resulted in an 11-yard loss.
Subsequently the Indians punted the ball back to Murphysboro, who then took the lead before halftime.

Taking over on the Indians' 40, the Red Devils marched to the DQ end zone in just six plays.

Both Clemons' produced yards in the drive and Finke added the finishing touches with a pair of runs.

His third down run from the eight-yard line resulted in his second TD of the night.

Finke ran to the right behind blockers and plowed into the end zone with just :35.0 left.

Despite a motion penalty on Murphysboro on the first PAT attempt, Boese nailed the kick through the uprights for a 14-7 halftime advantage.

For coach Beard him, and his staff, got a great defensive effort in the second half and junior defensive back Elijah Jones came up with a couple of big plays.

DuQuoin, after kicking off to the Red Devils, stopped the visitors on a fourth-and-one from the Murphysboro 43.

Finke was tackled short of the line for no gain by Jones, one of his two solo tackles on the night, which gave the ball back to DQ.

After a pass from Lee to Brown moved the ball to the Red Devils' 32, Hamilton went 31-yards down to the Murphysboro 1.

It took three attempts but DuQuoin finally scored on another Lee quarterback keeper.

A bad snap on the PAT forced a pass attempt that failed as the Indians trailed just 14-13 with 7:39 left in the third.

The Indians didn't make many second half mistakes but one of them was a failed on-side kick attempt that didn't go the required 10-yards, which gave the Red Devils great field position at the DuQuoin 40.

However, as mentioned earlier, the defensive line of scrimmage belonged to the hosts in the second half.

Murphysboro was once again stopped on a fourth down as Devon Clemons was tackled two-yards short of the first down as DuQuoin took over at their own 32.

After a DuQuoin punt, the Red Devils again were stopped by the Indians.

Murphysboro drove from their own 18 to the DQ 42-yard line before a long pass from Caldwell was intercepted by Jones at the DuQuoin six.

The best scoring drive of the night for the Indians came next as the club went 94-yards on eight-plays.

Lee found Hutchens with a 34-yard pass which got the ball to their own 45.

A 15-yard run by Jaden Smith was followed by a 24-yard run by Lee set the Indians up for another score.

From the Murphysboro 13, Lee dropped back and found Woody in the left side of the end zone.

The diving catch by the senior running back gave DQ the lead back for good.

A two-point conversion run by Hamilton made it 21-14 Indians with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter.

With a couple of defensive stands already in their pocket in the second half, DuQuoin decided on the 'hat-trick.'

The Indians forced a fourth-and-nine at the Murphysboro 36 and 6-foot-1 sophomore lineman Henry Harsy rushed in and blocked the Red Devils' punt, giving the Indians the ball in scoring position.

From the Murphysboro 30, Lee went for it all on the first play as his pass to Hutchens down the middle of the field resulted in a touchdown.

The PAT made it 28-14 DQ.

On two separate drives in the final minutes of the game, the Red Devils could muster only two first downs, one on each drive.

The first drive ended with a fumble recovery by DuQuoin's senior linebacker Waylon Mydler at the 50-yard line.

Mydler also helped the defensive cause on the night with seven tackles.

Although the Indians failed to move the ball and punted back to Murphysboro, they held the Red Devils one final time to complete the comeback.

From their own 34, Caldwell tried to find a receiver down the right sidelines but his pass was intercepted by DuQuoin senior defensive back Traijon Smith.

His return moved the ball down to the Red Devils' 13-yard line with just :42.9.

A pair of kneel downs in victory formation ended the Senior Night win and produced a playoff spot for Coach Beard's bunch.

DuQuoin had 281 combined passing and rushing.

Murphysboro rushed for 250-yards but most of those yard came between the 20-yard lines.

With just 23-yards passing a two interceptions in the air, the Red Devils saw their record slip to 6-3 on the season.

Both of these River-to-River teams qualified for the playoffs.

DuQuoin, the 10th seed in their bracket in 3A, will travel to Carlinville to play the seventh seeded Cavaliers.

Carlinville, a member of the South Central Conference, is 7-2 on the season.

Murphysboro is the seventh seed in its part of the 4A bracket and they will host Macomb at 3 pm on Saturday, October 30th.

The Bombers are also 6-3 on the season and are a member of the Prairieland Conference.

“We've been trying to focus and execute our offense, move the ball down the field and not make mistakes,” said Coach Beard. “And when we do that I think we're a pretty good offensive team. We just need to not get into bad situations and we were able to avoid that in the second half.”
Non-Conference
1
2
3
4
-
F
Murphysboro
0
14
0
0
-
14
DuQuoin
0
7
6
15
-
28

Second Quarter

DQ - David Lee 1-yard run - PAT Good - 7-0 DQ.
M - Ethan Finke 11-yard run - PAT Good - 7-7.
M - Ethan Finke 8-yard run - PAT Good - 14-7 M.

Third Quarter

DQ - David Lee 1-yard run - PAT Failed - 14-13 M .

Fourth Quarter

DQ - David Lee 8-yard pass to Nishan Woody - Jonathan Hamilton PAT Run Good - 21-14 DQ.
DQ - David Lee 30-yard pass to Caden Hutchens - PAT Good - 28-14 DQ.