Du Quoin Indians

The Southern Illinois River to River Conference, Mississippi Division, is once again the Du Quoin Indians to win as they try to improve on their record of 25th consecutive playoff appearances. The Indians were within 25 seconds of winning the Class 3A Illinois State Championship last year. Carthage Illini West 21-14 comeback victory was a crushing blow to the Du Quoin faithful. Du Quoin lost three big time players, Seth Flint WR/DB (Truman State - NCAA D2), and IHSFCA All-Staters TE/DE Dalton Morgan (Eastern Illinois University), and Quarterback AJ Hill (Northern Illinois University).

Du Quoin's football biggest asset year in and year out of course is head coach Al Martin. IHSFCA 2008 Hall-of-Fame Inductees member Allen Martin has a pretty amazing record of 215-43 for a winning percentage of .833 in 21 years as a head coach. Add to that two state championship titles and 4 runner-up trophies as well as continuing the playoff qualifying streak started by Bob Karnes in 1984. Coach Karnes qualified the Indians the first 4 years while Al has added 21 years to bring it up to 25. Speaking of Coach Karnes, Bob's son Jason has a 3-0 record against Al Martin while coaching for the Herrin Tigers. This seems to be the year that Du Quoin is able to break the jinx against Herrin and the Indians have a good shot at finishing 9-0 this season and will surely be ranked in the top ten in Class 3A when polls are released. Other than Herrin, Du Quoin will most likely face its toughest challenge against the Nashville Hornets.

Replacing a playmaker at Quarterback like AJ Hill isn't an easy task but Matt Gossett is a very talented althete and with a great core of returning receivers, Matt should be an effective QB. Matt was an all conference first team linebacker and was the Indians leading tackler, a fill-in for Dalton Morgan at Tight End vs. Columbia in the Semifinals last year and one of the best basketball players in the South. Du Quoin will have a strong offensive line that will provide for a good mix of rushing and passing in 2009. It is possible that Du Quoin will again have two all-state players in Gossett and receiver David Rose (61 Catches, 938 yards, 12 TD, 15 Yards a catch). Marcus Clarry is a force on both sides of the ball as shown with his five catches and two interceptions in the semifinals against Columbia.

The backfield will be stacked with first team RB Jamor Reed (98 carries, 684 yards, 8 TD) and second team FB David Gayton (112 carries, 731 yards, 9 TD) returning to carry the ball for the Indians. Again, it is hard to say it after the performances put up last year by Du Quoin seniors, but talk around the area is that this years team might be a better all-around team than last years state runner-up squad. They certainly have the experience and the entire community of Du Quoin behind them.