Huge second quarter leads Bulldogs to win over Panthers

The Harrisburg football team trailed 7-0 after the first quarter to winless Pinckneyville, but two touchdowns in the last minute of the second quarter turned the game around and led to a 38-15 win on Military/First Responders Night at a rainy and freaky Friday the 13th non-conference ball game in Pinckneyville.

“It’s an older harder turf that’s slippery when it’s wet, so for a little bit we were having trouble holding onto the ball,” said Harrisburg coach Matt Griffith. “So just being able to execute when we needed to in a torrential downpour was key. Knowing we were going to have bad weather, our goal was to make something work and get out with a win.”

Harrisburg got back on the winning track after losing at Du Quoin last week to improve to 2-1 while Pinckneyville remained winless at 0-3.

“We had a lot of things to fix after last week, so I’m proud of our young men the way we executed and came back late in the first half,” Griffith said. “We had better aggression and better play all the way around despite the wet and slippery conditions. Despite a wet ball the passing was good.”

This week the Bulldogs finish their season-opening four-game road trip with a game at Alton-Marquette Friday at 7 p.m. The Explorers are 0-3 with losses to Civic Memorial on the road, 43-2, Clinton at home, 35-7, and East Alton-Wood River, 24-7, on the road last week.

“Marquette lost some seniors from last year, so they are not as strong,” Griffith said. “I know they have been favoring the passing game this season.”

With the Pinckneyville game being played in a constant rain the Bulldog running game took center stage with 44 rushing attempts for 353 yards while throwing the ball just 12 times for 87 yards. Reed Rider led the team in rushing with 181 yards on 18 carries with Brendan Hicks finishing with 155 yards on 18 carries.

“We have two power running backs, so we challenged our offensive line this week to establish our identity,” Griffith said. “Our big goal was to run the ball and run it at will.”

Owen Rann completed 6-of-12 passes for 87 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. Aiden Unthank caught four passes for 37 yards and a touchdown and Reed Rider caught two passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Harrisburg held Pinckneyville to just six first downs and 170 total yards, including 58 yards rushing on 27 attempts and 115 yards passing on 7-of-19 completions.

“Our defense showed up and played well,” Griffith said. “Despite the footing being suspect they forced three turnovers.”

The game began on time in a steady rain with the Panthers’ Vincent Deering returning the opening kickoff 61 yards down the right sideline down to the Harrisburg 22. Four plays later facing fourth down and five, Reed Marlow connected with Tyler McConnell for a 17-yard touchdown pass and Joey Martin kicked the extra point to take a 7-0 lead just two minutes and 20 seconds into the game.

The Panther defense stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down at its own 45 on Harrisburg’s first drive and then forced a punt on its second handing the ball back to offense at its own 17 with 2:18 left in the first quarter.

Following a 15-yard run by Deering, Colt Prather recovered a fumble at the Panther 31. Three plays later the Bulldogs were at the 10 with a first down.

The Panther defense stopped three straight runs for a negative two yards setting up 4th-and-goal at the 12, but an off-sides penalty moved the ball to the seven where a Rann pass to Hicks in the left flat came up a yard short at the one leaving the Bulldogs down 7-0 with 10:45 left in the first half.

Two false start penalties, a run of one yard and two incomplete passes set up a Panther punt from the two on fourth down. The Panther coaching staff decided to snap the ball out of the end zone for a safety instead of risking a blocked punt and a possible touchdown to cut the lead to 7-2 with 9:50 remaining in the second quarter.

With the rain intensifying Harrisburg took the kickoff and drove the ball down the Pinckneyville 16 where another botched handoff resulted in a fumble that the Panthers recovered at the 16.

Seven plays later the Panthers were facing 4th-and-7 from their own 33 and tried a fake punt, but Marlow was held to a three-yard gain giving the ball back to the offense at the Pinckneyville 36 with1:50 remaining in the half.

“We saw the player looking at their sideline and a coach signaling to the punt shield, so we relayed the message to our players and they made a good play,” Griffith said.

After a penalty pushed the ball back to the 43, Rider broke off a 30-yard run around right end down setting up a Hicks 13-yard touchdown run. Rider scored the two-point conversion to give the Bulldogs its first lead, 10-7, with a minute remaining in the half.

Harrisburg got the ball back with three seconds left when Unthank intercepted Marlow and returned the ball to the Panthers 44. Rann threw a perfect pass down the left sideline that Rider caught at the 10 and ran into the end zone for the touchdown. Burke Wilson kicked the extra point to up the lead to 17-7 at the half.

“The weather broke for a bit in the last minute, so were able to get a fresh ball in there and that helped us,” Griffith said.

Then things got a little weird after the Panther Marching Band halftime performance when lightning was detected twice resulting in a 65 minute delay.

When play resumed the Bulldogs took the second half kickoff and drove 75 yards on seven plays with Rider actually scoring twice. The first was on a five-yard run behind left guard that was called back on a false start penalty and the second on the next play was behind right guard for a 10-yard touchdown. Wilson kicked the extra point to up the lead to 24-7 four minutes and 20 seconds into the third quarter.

With the score still 24-7 the Panthers took over with nine seconds left in the third and continued the drive to start the fourth when it got weirder. Pinckneyville was facing a 3rd-and 15 from the Panther 18 when the lights went out in the stadium forcing a 17-minute delay.

As it turned out the lights were on a timer that was set to shutoff at 10 p.m. Once the lights recycled play resumed with 11:05 remaining in the game and the Bulldogs defense sacked Marlow for an eight-yard loss forcing a punt.

Harrisburg took over on it own 48 and four-plays later Rann and Unthank connected for a 29-yard touchdown pass. Wilson again kicked the extra point and Harrisburg led 31-7 with 8:36 remaining

The Bulldogs got the ball back 1:46 later when Brody Nyberg recovered another Panther fumble at the Harrisburg 28.The Bulldogs drove he length of the field on eight plays with Aiden Hankins scoring on an eight-yard run. Wilson was good again to up the lead the 38-7 with 2:53 remaining.

After Thomas Fisher returned the kickoff for 27 yards, the Panthers drove 38 yards on nine plays finishing with Marlow and Marshawn Fisher hooking up for a 14-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left. McConnell caught the two-point conversion pass from Marlow for the final score.