Du Quoin football: Week 1 Indians drop season opener to defending state champs

DU QUOIN - The Du Quoin Indians lost their season opener to Williamsville on Saturday afternoon at Van Metre field, falling behind 23-0 after the first quarter and unable to catch up.

"I told the kids that the loss was on me," said Du Quoin Coach Derek Beard. "I don't know if I had them prepared today, so I take full responsibility there."

For the Indians, the 64-20 drubbing was the third loss to the reigning 3A state champs in three years. They lost 48-14 in the second round of the playoffs in 2019 and 50-20 in the first round of the playoffs in 2018.

"That's a good football team," Beard said. "We haven't had a bad practice all year and our kids have competed every day. Whenever we got down big they kept fighting. I'm very proud of their effort."

Du Quoin won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The game opened with Bullet running back Hunter Moser returning the kickoff 47 yards to the Du Quoin 41. Three plays later Conor McCormick connected with Stephen Gleason for a 22-yard touchdown pass. McCormick ran in the two-point conversion and just 59 seconds into the ballgame the Bullets led 8-0.

The Indians caught a break when the Williamsville kickoff went out of bounds setting up Du Quoin at their own 40 after the penalty. Junior quarterback David Lee marched the Indians down the field on four passes and five runs, including a 15-yarder by Lee around right end, to set up the Indians with a 1st and 10 at the Bullets' 18.

On first down Lee connected with Caden Hutchens for four yards. He went back to Hutchins on second down, but the pass was dropped. His third down pass bounced in the right flat.

"We had some open receivers and some dropped passes, but that happens," Beard said. "We moved the ball at times and did some good things, but we had some tough breaks."

On 4th and 6 Corey Walburt picked off Lee's pass along the left sideline and raced for a 96-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was fumbled, but McCormick picked up the ball ran into the end zone over left end and the Bullets led 16-0 with 6:11 left in the first quarter.

"That was probably a 14-point swing," Beard said. "But those things happen in a game and hopefully we prepare for next week a little better."

The Indians second offensive series ended with a punt on 4th and 7 from the 50. The Bullets needed just one play - scoring on a 76-yard touchdown run around left end by Maxwell Olysv. Colvin Fleck kicked the extra point with 59 seconds left in the first quarter to up its lead to 23-0.

The Indians finally got on track with a nifty eight-play, 69-yard drive. It started with a dropped pass with 52.6 seconds left in the first quarter and ending with Lee and Wade Roberson combining for a 34-yard touchdown pass - beating Walburt in the right corner of the end zone - 1:37 into the second quarter. The two-point conversion failed.

Williamsville responded with a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that lasted just 1:21 and included a 22-yard sweep around right end by McCormick.

After forcing a Du Quoin punt the Indians' defense stiffened, forcing Williamsville to turn the ball over on downs at the Du Quoin 24.

The Indians next drive ended at their own 22 with a punt, but Du Quoin got the ball right back when Ethan Hill recovered a Bullet fumble at the end of a 22-yard punt return. The Indians didn't capitalize, and went three and out.

The Bullets then drove 54 yards on five plays to score and up the lead to 37-6 with 2:21 left in the half.

"We didn't come away with points when we forced turnovers, but the turnovers they got they turned into points," Beard said. "That was the difference."

Du Quoin took over on its own 33. Four first downs and 67 yards later Lee scored on a sneak from the 1 with 21.7 seconds left in the half. The two-point conversion failed again leaving the Indians down 37-12.

The Indian defense came up big again with Waylan Mydler recovering another Bullet fumble at the Du Quoin 48 with 10 seconds left, but time ran out before the Indians could capitalize.

The third quarter saw Williamsville score three touchdowns, for a 58-12 lead. During the quarter the Indians had three possessions, ending in an interception at the 50 yard line, a punt from their own 36 and a long 12-play drive that started on their own 15 and ended at the Bullet 18 on an incomplete pass on 4th and 8 with 2:33 left.

The Indians got the ball back with 58.9 seconds in the third and drove 57 yards all on the ground starting with three straight runs by Nick Brown for 12 yards, 12 yards and 13 yards to set up the Indians at the Bullets 20. Three plays later Aaron Dorsey scored from the one with 8:17 remaining. Lee ran in the two-point conversion to cut the margin to 58-20.

The Bullets ate up six of the final eight minutes on an eight-play, 67-yard drive to score its final touchdown with 2:05 remaining.

Lee completed nine of 31 passes for 131 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Konner Harris led the Indians in rushing with 82 yards on 14 carries, including a 39-yard run with 1:57 remaining, with Brown coming off the bench to finish with 55 yards on seven carries.

"It was Lee's first start and I was proud of him for getting over that interception early," Beard said. "He put it out of his mind and made some good throws after that."

The Indians continue their homestand with Sparta next Saturday at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs dropped their season opener to Nashville, 64-0.

"I don't know much about Sparta," Beard said. "They have a new coach and graduated some kids.

"We just have to get better. We have to come to practice on Monday and work on those things to be disciplined and focused."

<b>Game stats</b>

Scoring by quarter

Williamsville 23 14 21 6 - 64

Du Quoin 0 12 0 8 - 20

Team stats

First downs: WV 25, DQ 22

Penalties: WV 5-28, DQ 6-30

Fumbles/fumbles lost: WV 2/2, DQ 1/0.

Individual stats

Rushing

WV: Maxwell Olysav 11-162-2TD; Conor McCormick 11-85-1TD; Stephen Gleason 3-17; Ethan Hinds 3-13-1TD; Jake Seman 1-4; Colin Ripperda 2-4; Hunter Moser 2-4; George Spaniol 1-3-1TD.

DQ: Konner Harris 14-82; Nick Brown 7-55; David Lee 9-45-1TD; Lane Bauman 11-44; Aiden Bradley 1-5; Brady Knapp 2-5; Aaron Dorsey 1-1-1TD.

Passing

WV: McCormick 13-27-0-171-2TD; Seman 3-3-0-59-1TD.

DQ: Lee 9-31-2-131-1TD.

Receiving

WV: Nathan Hull 4-68-1TD; Noah Sanders 4-30; Sam McCoy 2-25-1TD; Olysav 2-8; Moser 1-34; Hinds 1-25; Gleason 1-22-1TD; Will Kistner 1-18.

DQ: Caden Hutchens 2-48; Gage Green 2-21; Owen Bradley 2-10; Wade Roberson 1-34-1TD; Ethan Hill 1-14; Harris 1-4.