09/17/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
PALESTINE - Sometimes, in a high school football contest, it's just about pounding the ball up the middle when it comes to running a successful football offense.

On Saturday afternoon the Pinckneyville Panthers took a long road trip (nearly three hours) up north and they turned to running back Chase Schneider to carry the ball for most of the game.

The 6-0, 210 senior didn't disappoint.

Schneider turned 31 carries into 211-yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon and the Panthers' defense dominated.

Forcing three turnovers Coach Ryan Lott's club picked up a 26-8 victory over Oblong/Palestine/Hutsonville.

"We have designed the offense around him (Schneider) and as he goes so will our offense. Everyone else will click," said Coach Lott. "And we have some complimentary pieces and we have to make sure we get them the ball as well. It makes things much easier when we establish our fullback and running game."

The triumph improved Pinckneyville to 2-2 on the season while the host Wildcats remain without a win at 0-4.

The Panthers scored on their opening drive and never looked back as they dominated all phases.

Quarterback Jase Lee only completed 1-of-4 passes on the day.

However the one was big, as it went for 13-yards for a touchdown to senior Asher Jausell.

Junior running back Karsen Konkel added four rushes for 76-yards, including a TD run in the second half.

Marshawn Fisher, a sophomore running back, got in on the offense as he carried four times for 23-yards.

A closer look at the stats explains the dominance on the defensive side of the ball for Pinckneyville.

Coach Lott's club was near flawless in keeping the hosts in check.

The Panthers allowed only 103 total yards of total offense, with 44 of the yards on the lone OPH scoring play in the fourth quarter.

Konkel led the team with three solo tackles while junior Jaedon Kellerman and junior Jackson Weatherford added two tackles each.

"That was part of the game plan that we wanted to keep them from getting to the edge (outside) because they have a couple of guys and we wanted to make sure we kept them contained," said Coach Lott. "We wanted to force them to run up inside. I'd like to have that one touchdown play back (that we gave up) because it was a mental assignment error. With a solid defensive game like we played today we would have liked to have pitched a shutout but it shows you can't take a play off, either."

For OPH and head coach Jacob Fuller there weren't many highlights for the banged up squad.

The Wildcats were missing some key players in the trenches and Pinckneyville took advantage of their absence.

Pinckneyville committed 11-penalties for 60-yards, which would have been more of a concern had the defense not played as well as they did.

Coach Lott's defense forced four turnovers (two interceptions, two fumbles) which killed four of the potential OPH scoring drives.

The few bright spots for OPH came mostly on the defensive side of the ball.

Senior defensive back KJ Davis made a team-best seven solo tackles and assisted on four others.

One of the other DB's, senior Nicki Roberts, added three tackles and junior defensive back Owen Potts also brought down three Pinckneyville runners.

Roberts scored the OPH lone TD, in the fourth quarter.

Offensively quarterback JD McPherson was under pressure for most of the game, completing 6-of-18 attempts for a meager 47-yards, including two interceptions.

McPherson was sacked twice in the game and hurried often.

Sophomore Brandon Thacker ran the ball four times for just 15-yards and Davis rushed four times for just nine-yards.

After winning the coin toss, Pinckneyville got the ball first after a touch-back.

It took just under five minutes for Coach Lott's 'Lot' to go 80-yards in eight-plays to score the game's first touchdown.

Schneider gobbled up nearly all of those yards on the ground, which included a 48-yard burst up the middle.

The senior was dragged down from behind at the OPH 11-yard line.

Four plays later, with it first-and-goal at the one, Schneider finished the drive with a one-yard run up the middle.

Senior kicker Manuel Sergi nailed the extra-point for a 7-0 lead with 7:36 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Wildcats' first series, starting at their own 34, resulted in a quarterback sack and three total plays for minus-18.

However OPH caught the game's first break as a long punt by the Wildcats was mishandled by Fisher.

The fumble resulted in an OPH recovery at the Pinckneyville 24.

However it took just two plays for the Panthers to get the ball back.

After a four-yard run by Davis, McPherson ran with the ball to the left and was hit as he was going to the ground and the ball came loose.

Sophomore defensive back Vincent Deering pounced on the ball for the Panthers at the 15-yard line.

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Pinckneyville used its ground attack to move the ball and the game clock to the end of the first quarter and for more than half of the second quarter until they finally scored.

The total was 20-plays and 85-yards.

Despite four offensive penalties, the Panthers kept responding with positive yards when they didn't see yellow flags on the field.

Nine of the 19 running plays in the drive were carried by Schneider.

Following the fourth penalty that pushed the Panthers back to the OPH 13, Lee dropped back and found Jausel sprinting down the left sideline.

His pass into the left corner of the end-zone was on target for a TD pass with just 3:15 remaining in the half.

Sergi had his PAT blocked by Davis so the Panthers settled for a 13-0 advantage.

Oblong/Palestine/Hutsonville's day got a bit worse on their next possession as they once again failed to move the ball.

An OPH punt netted minus-2 yards, handing the ball to Pinckneyville at the 18-yard line.

However Lee coughed up a fumble on the next play and OPH linebacker Reeve Dennis fell on the ball at the 20-yard line with just 1:01 left in the half.

On the second play after the fumble, the Wildcats gave the ball back to Pinckneyville as Deering again came up big defensively.

The sophomore picked off a McPherson pass which gave the Panthers another scoring opportunity at the OPH 44.

But three plays netted just six-yards and Coach Lott and company went to the break up 13-0.

A 21-yard kickoff return by Davis put the Wildcats in great field position to begin the second half at their own 49.

OPH managed to move down the field, with the help of a pair of Pinckneyville penalties.

On a fourth-and-13 from the Panthers' 25, McPherson completed a pass down the right sideline to Davis, who caught it inbounds just past the line to get for the first down, setting up Coach Fuller's club with a first-and-10 at the Pinckneyville 11.

As they had done for most of the game, the Panthers' defense held.

Three OPH plays produced just five-yards to bring up a fourth-and-five at the six-yard line.

Davis took a pitch and, while running to his right, attempted a pass near the goal-line.

However Konkel batted the ball away from the OPH receiver for an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs.

Pinckneyville took the ball right down the field, going 94-yards in eight-plays, all on the ground.

Konkel produced the biggest run of the drive, taking the ball around the left end and going 29-yards to the Panthers' 39.

Schneider ran the ball eight-times for 45-yards, including the last 18-yards as he steamrolled through the OPH defense to the endzone from 18-yards out.

Although the PAT missed, with 11:46 remaining in the contest, Pinckneyville led 19-0.

The best drive of the day for the Wildcats consumed 65-yards in eight-plays.

A fourth-and-12 faced Coach Fuller's club at their own 45.

McPherson found Dennis with a pass for 16-yards to the Panther's 39.

Following an illegal motion penalty and an in-completion, Roberts took a hand-off going to his left and found nothing but daylight between himself and the endzone.

Forty-four yards later, OPH was finally on the scoreboard.

A two-point conversion run by McPherson cut the Panthers' led to just 19-8 with still 8:49 to go.

As they had accomplished for most of the game, Pinckneyville took just over five minutes off of the clock and tacked on an insurance score.

Eight-plays produced 80-yards with Schneider working the middle again.

Despite having a 17-yard TD run called back on a holding penalty, the Panthers' iced the game with Konkel scoring his second touchdown of the game on a 16-yard run.

The Sergi PAT kick was true and with 3:54 left the visitors had closed out the scoring.

The next OPH drive started at its own eight-yard line and ended with a fourth-down pass from McPherson to sophomore Devin Lawyer, who was tackled a yard short of the first down.

Pinckneyville nearly ran out the clock on the win, turning it back over on downs to the Wildcats with just :06.0 left.

One incomplete pass from McPherson was followed by a long pass that was picked off by Deering as the final horn sounded.

Pinckneyville racked up 327-yards of total offense and produced 16-first downs to just six from OPH.

The Panthers' defense held OPH without a third-down conversion (0-of-7) while the offense converted 4-of-7.

Pinckneyville will have to continue to improve as the meat of their schedule is in the final five weeks of the season.

First up is Perry County rival DuQuoin Friday night at home, which will be followed by four-consecutive road games to close out the season.

"We definitely executed well today. Our first game of the season (52-0 loss at Red Bud) did not go well with us having a lot of execution errors. But we have gotten better every week since then," said Coach Lott. "That's one of the things I tell our kids that every game. We want to see less mental errors and execute things on both sides of the ball."

OPH, still in search of their first win while playing an independent schedule, will host Red Hill next Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.

"We came into the game missing three starters on the offensive and defensive line and we probably lost two more today (to injuries) so the better part of the second half we were playing with a skeleton crew. We moved the ball some but we have a hard time getting our defense off of the field,"said OPH head coach Jacob Fuller.