Prep Football: Harrisburg, Way hopes history repeats itself

Posted August 30, 2016 11:00 pm

If history was every going to repeat itself, Harrisburg's Al Way would love no better time for it to do so than this week.

Last year the Bulldogs lost the season opener at Mt. Carmel and then rattled off six straight wins en route to a 7-2 regular season record.

The first of those wins came against this week's opponent - Du Quoin.

Way doesn't call this week's contest a "must win" although with road games coming up at Boonville, Indiana next and at West Frankfort Week 4, a victory would be a good thing as Harrisburg begins a three-game road trip.

"We lost our first game last year and managed to bounce back and in 2001, we lost our first three games and ended up losing to Benton 14-12 Week 8 and Benton played in the semifinals, otherwise we would have come back and won the conference that year," Way said.

"Right now, it's more about the resilience of the kids. Are they willing to bounce back, what is their attitude going to be and are they willing to work hard to get better? Right now, it's a matter of winning the games we are supposed to win."

Du Quoin took care of business last week, smacking Massac County 34-17 in a week where no River-to-River Ohio Division team grabbed a W.

In addition to Harrisburg and Massac County falling in non-conference games, Herrin, Murphysboro, West Frankfort and Benton all lost.

The Indians were able to take care of business using a solid ground game for Zayne Fornear.

The 5-10, 185-pound senior running back had 14 carries for 166 yards and three scores.

Mt. Carmel's stud running back Trevor Kennard was just as deadly to the Bulldogs' defense, finishing with 219 yards on 14 carries and two scores.

"There is no doubt that Fornear is a good back," Ways said. "But he is a different kind of back. He'll run right through tackles and if you don't wrap up on him, he'll run over you. Kennard, we had guys unblocked and we missed him, he's that deceptive. Give Kennard credit, he's that good. But Fornear is good too."

Du Quoin returns about 75-80 percent of their team from last year.

"The big focus right now is trying to correct our mistakes," Way added. "You have to look backward to a certain extent to see what you did wrong, so it can be corrected, but our focus the rest of the year has to be on us getting better. "

Way called it a week-by-week process and said his team has to find out if his staff has the right players in the right spots and if there is someone not performing, finding someone that can do better.

"You can't point your finger and blame one guy," Way said. "It was a team effort. A bunch of guys took turns making mistakes. It's just got to be corrected and it started Monday at practice and hopefully the kids will buy in and understand mistakes have to be corrected. If not, it's going to be a long season."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Bulldogs &#8212; By The Numbers

2016 BULLDOG SCHEDULE Date Opponent (Final) Aug. 26 MT. CARMEL (L 42-0) Sept. 2 at Du Quoin 7 PM Sept. 9 at Boonville, Ind. 7PM Sept. 16 at West Frankfort 7PM Sept. 23 MASSAC CO. 1 PM Sept. 30 BENTON 7 PM Oct. 7 at Murphysboro 7 PM Oct. 14 HERRIN 7 PM Oct. 21 CARBONDALE 7 PM Southern Illinois River to River Ohio Division Conf All W L W L PF PA Herrin 0 0 0 1 18 28 Massac County 0 0 0 1 17 34 Murphysboro 0 0 0 1 13 14 West Frankfort 0 0 0 1 6 12 Benton 0 0 0 1 6 33 Harrisburg 0 0 0 1 0 42 2016 BULLDOG STATS ••• TEAM STATISTICS HBG OPP 13 First Downs 13 188 Total Yards 399 49-163 Rushing Yards 27-295 3-14-1 Passing 2-4-1 25 Passing Yards 104 4-3 Fumbles/Lost 4-1 2-10 Penalties 9-68 ••• INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Hunter Smith 18-90, Jordan Bartok 16-49, Axavier Doss 10-42, Ryan Ragsdale 1-2, Isaiah Saulsberry 4-(-20). PASSING — Isaiah Saulsberry 3-14-1 25. RECEIVING — Hunter Smith 1-16, Austin Hefner 1-6, Axavier Doss 1-3.

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