Red Bud survives late scare from Pinckneyville

The Red Bud Musketeers kicked off the prep football season in style cruising out to a commanding 33-7 lead at halftime over Pinckneyville. However, the Musketeers had to stop two late fourth quarter drives to escape with a 33-29 win Friday night.
“Overall in the first half we were just spectacular,” said Red Bud coach Dave Lucht. “Our offense was dynamic and our defense really kept Pinckneyville in check. Jake (Hoffman) had a great first half for us running and passing the ball.”
Hoffman did a little bit of everything in the opening half as he piled up 98 yards on the ground with a touchdown, completed 8-of-17 passes for 111 yards with two touchdowns and for good measure he intercepted a pass on defense as well.
Pinckneyville on the other hand got off to a slow start as they fumbled away the ball on their third play from scrimmage.
The fumble was recovered by Red Bud junior Cameron Mueth and gave the Musketeers prime starting possession, the Pinckneyville 24 yard line, for their first series of the year on offense.
Seven plays later, Red Bud converted on a fourth down pass play as Hoffman connected with Tyler Magruder for a seven yard score. Red Bud added the extra point and with 9:06 to play in the first quarter the Musketeers led 7-0.
The Pinckneyville offense answered right back as they ran the ball on five consecutive plays capping a 61-yard drive with a 33-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Bryant Shute. Shute then kicked in the extra point himself to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:10 still to play in the opening quarter.
After each team turned the ball over via the fumble on their next possessions, Red Bud put together a 53-yard seven-play drive to get back into the endzone. Magruder put the finishing touches on the drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge with 55.3 seconds left in the opening quarter. The drive was highlighted by a 12-yard pass from Hoffman to Seth Heizer and a 26-yard pass play from Hoffman to Magruder.
The extra point attempt was blocked as Red Bud’s lead increased to 13-7.
Pinckneyville’s next possession was prematurely cut short as Hoffman picked off a pass from Shute and returned it to the Pinckneyville 45 yard line to end the first quarter.

The Musketeers capitalized from the turnover and the good starting position as they scored eight plays later when Tyler Hubert ran the ball in from two yards out. Red Bud converted the extra point to push their lead up to 20-7 with 9:17 to play in the first half.
That Red Bud scoring drive was highlighted by several nice runs from Hoffman and Hubert.
Pinckneyville looked to get back on the scoreboard as Shute hooked up with Nathan Morton on a 73-yard touchdown pass play, but the play was called back as Morton was whistled for offensive pass interference and the Panthers were forced to punt after just three plays.
The Musketeer offense stayed hot as they marched down the field 52 yards on 10 plays. The drive was capped off by a 14-yard touchdown run from Hoffman on a crucial fourth down. Red Bud added the extra point and with 2:24 to play in the first half the Musketeer advantage was 27-7.
Pinckneyville’s next possession looked to be cut short again as Shute tossed another interception, this time Magruder came up with the pick. But Magruder fumbled the ball as he tried to gain some extra yards and Pinckneyville recovered the loose ball to regain possession.
However, the turn in momentum did nothing for the Panther offense and were forced to punt four plays later.
Red Bud started their next drive from their own 44 yard line with just 41.7 seconds left in the half. But that turned out to be plenty of time for the high powered Musketeer offense as Hoffman connected with Hubert on a 23-yard pass play, hooked up with Magruder for a 10-yard pass completion and then found Hubert again, this time for an 18-yard touchdown pass as the horn sounded to end the first half. Red Bud’s extra point kick was blocked and at half-time the Musketeers led the Panthers 33-7.
Red Bud started the second half with the ball, but penalties hampered their first drive as the Musketeers were forced to punt the ball for the first time in the game.
A short punt gave Pinckneyville good starting position, the Red Bud 31 yard line, and the offense came onto the field with a sense of urgency trailing by 26 points.
Pinckneyville ran the ball with success against the Musketeer defense as they picked up two first downs on the drive which resulted in a three-yard touchdown run by Shute. Pinckneyville tired the two-point conversion but the pass fell incomplete and with 5:14 to play in the third quarter the Panthers trailed just 33-13.
Red Bud’s next possession started from their own nine yard line. The rushing attack looked promising for the Musketeers as they rolled down the field picking up three first downs on just six plays to move into Pinckneyville territory to end the third quarter.
The Pinckneyville defense however stiffened up over the next coupe of plays and forced Red Bud to punt the ball.
Pinckneyville began their next drive from their own 10 yard line but their offense was finally starting to click. Shute made good on several deep passes during the possession including a 17-yard throw to Morton and a 15-yard toss to Adam Barczewski. But it was the 55-yard touchdown pass to Morton that gave Pinckneyville the momentum as Red Bud’s lead was reduced to 33-21 with 9:40 to play in the game following the successful two-point conversion.

Red Bud’s second half decline continued on their next possession as Hoffman’s pass on second down was intercepted by Jake Bathon. Pinckneyville had the ball back and only 42 seconds had dwindled off the clock since their last touchdown score. Shute’s pinpoint passing continued on this drive as he connected with Barczewski for a 20-yard gain, but it was a key foul called on Red Bud that kept the drive going. In fact, Red Bud was whistled for eight penalties in the second half, while they were only flagged for one penalty in the first half. After two consecutive penalties were called against the Red Bud defense, Shute connected with Morton for another touchdown pass, this time coming from 22 yards out. Shute and Morton hooked up on the two-point conversion and with 6:17 left in the game Pinckneyville trailed only 33-29.

Red Bud tried to run some time off the clock on their next possession, but the Pinckneyville defense held strong and forced a three and out. However, a high snap caused the ball to go over the punter’s head and Pinckneyville took over on downs at the Red Bud 14 yard line.Pinckneyville was able to pick up a first down on another pass interference call that went against Red Bud, but a couple of nice defensive plays by the Musketeers included a sack by Heizer forced a very long fourth down. On fourth down, Shute tossed the ball up towards the endzone, but Hubert came down with a key interception at the Red Bud one yard line.
The Musketeers went conservative on offense as they tried to run some more time off the clock, but were forced to punt after just three plays. On fourth down Hoffman’s punt was blocked and Pinckneyville recovered the ball on the Red Bud 15 yard line with 36.7 seconds remaining.
On first down, Shute tossed the ball into the endzone towards Barczewski but Magruder made a good defensive play to break up the pass. On second down, Shute again throws the ball towards the endzone but Red Bud sophomore Alex Phegley made the play of the game as he intercepted the pass to seal the win for the Musketeers 33-29.
“The second half just showed the typical Red Bud mentality,” said Lucht. “We don’t have the mentality of putting teams away when we have the opportunity. We have to play to win instead of playing not to lose. We weren’t fired up in the second half and Pinckneyville was. Morton made some great catches for them and they gave us all we could handle in the second half.”
Red Bud improves to 1-0 with the win, while Pinckneyville falls to 0-1. The Musketeers travel to Wesclin next Friday night, while the Panthers go to West Frankfort.