Indians football, Week 6: Du Quoin falls to Mater Dei, 50-14

With the score tied 8-8 in the second quarter Breese Mater Dei went to work, scoring 35 straight points to hand Du Quoin a 50-14 nonconference road loss last Friday.

"We knew they were a good team and I think if we played them 10 times they would probably beat us 10 times," said Du Quoin coach Derek Beard. "We had that one good drive and went for two and were in a pretty good position right there.

"But defensively we gave up way too many big plays, especially in the passing game. We have to get better defending the pass and we have to get better in a hurry."

Beard said the offense need to execute better so as to keep the Indians defense off the field more.

"We can't afford to make silly penalties and put ourselves in 1st-and-15 situations. We have to execute and stay ahead of the chains and we can't have 3-and-outs. We weren't able to do that Friday night."

Du Quoin fell to 3-3 on the season with three games left. The Indians take their 1-1 SIRR Mississippi Division record on the road to The Pit Friday against Anna-Jonesboro (3-3, 1-2). The Wildcats are coming off 49-28 win over Pinckneyville on the road.

"Coach (Brett) Detering (of Anna-Jonesboro) has done a good job for a long time and you know what you're going to get," Beard said. "You have to deal with the option, stop the fullback and the counter and all that stuff and they are going to be sound defensively. The key will be getting stops to get our defense off the field and not having 10 or 12 wasted offensive opportunities."

It's been a great conference rivalry with Du Quoin holding a 10-7 lead in the series since 2004. The Wildcats won the last game during the spring season, 6-0, and have won three of the last four meetings, but have split the last two games at The Pit, with Du Quoin winning 49-20 in 2019 and A-J, 42-36, in 2017.

Meanwhile, last Friday, Mater Dei (5-0) took the early lead on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Revermann to Cameron Haag with 8:17 remaining in the first quarter. But Du Quoin came right back with a 10-yard touchdown pass of its own when David Lee hit Elijah Jones just six seconds into the second quarter. Lee and Ethan Hill connected for the two-point conversion and the score was tied, 8-8.

Then the Knights blew it open, scoring four touchdowns in quick succession beginning with a two-yard run by Revermann with 7:52 left in the half followed by four-yard run by Jayce Napovanice 1:39 later, another two-yard Revermann run 3:09 after that and a Revermann to Trey Gerdes 65-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left.

Beard said the Indians couldn't get the offense going in the second quarter.

"We were driving late in the half and completed a 34-yard pass to Nishan Woody to the middle of the field," he said, "and on the next play we had a receiver wide open, but the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and it bounced off our receiver's hands and they intercepted it," Beard said.

"They then got that long touchdown pass and that was kind of the dagger."

Gerdes and Revermann connected again on a 35-yard touchdown pass 3:12 into the third quarter to up the lead to 43-8.

The Indians got back on the board 4:47 later when Lee threw his second touchdown pass - a seven-yarder to Gabe Adams. The kick failed, leaving the score 43-14.

The Knights closed out like they began with Revermann and Haag connecting for their second touchdown pass and Revermann's fourth for 15 yards with 3:13 left in the third quarter.

The Knights finished with 476 total yards with Revermann completing 18-of-21 passes for 315 yards. Haag caught seven passes for 123 yards. Napovanice was the leading rusher with 53 yards on 13 carries.

The Indians finished with 262 total yards. Jonathan Hamilton led the game in rushing with 93 yards on 17 carries. Lee completed 8-of-18 passes for 107 yards and Caden Hutchens was the leading receiver with three catches for 31 yards.

"Nick Brown got hurt on his first carry, but Jonathan Hamilton came in and did a good job for us with some big runs," Beard said. "Nick has a lower leg injury, but we expect him back soon."

Game stats

Du Quoin 0 8 6 0 - 14

Mater Dei 8 28 14 0 - 50

First downs: DQ 14; BMD 22.

Penalties/yards: DQ 8/47; BMD 10/86.

Fumbles-Lost: DQ 0-0, BMD 0-0.

DQ rushing: Jonathan Hamilton, 17-93; David Lee, 8-38; Jonathan Savage, 2-12; Jacob Eaton, 2-7; Nishan Woody, 1-5; Elijah Jones, 2-4; Brady Knapp, 1-0; Nick Brown, 1-0; Gabe Adams 1-0.

BMD rushing: Jayce Napovanice, 13-53-1TD; Gabe Schlimme, 4-27; Bryce Revermann, 4-19-2TD; Nick Lamke, 2-14; Drake Rensing, 11-12; Cameron Haag, 1-10; Jace Loepker, 1-6; Trenton Zeeb, 3-2; Chase Jansen, 1-0.

DQ passing: David Lee 8-18-1int-107-2TD; Camden Waller 1-1-0int-(-4)-0TD.

BMD passing: Bryce Revermann, 18-21-0int-315-4TD; Logan Barton, 1-1-0int-16-0TD; Trenton Zeeb, 0-1-0int-0-0TD.

DQ receiving: Caden Hutchens 3-31; P.J. Winters 2-15; Nishan Woody 1-34; Elijah Jones 1-10-1TD; Gabe Adams, 1-7-1TD; Jaden Smith 1-6.

BMD receiving: Cameron Haag, 7-123-1TD; Trey Gerdes, 4-104-2TD; Dalton Markus, 4-74-0TD; Jayce Napovanice, 2-16; Nick Lamke, 1-16; Jake Richter, 1-(-2).