In a rain-soaked, lightning-delayed affair, Wesclin's football team faced a long ride home after an opening night loss at Chester, 22-11.

Wesclin led 11-0 at halftime, but mistakes, injuries, and cramps in the second half conspired to doom the Warrior chances.

"I thought we were in pretty good shape, and defensively we looked good," said first-year coach Brandon Murphy. "We need to improve on taking care of the football and going full speed at all times."

Wesclin took the ball on their opening possession of the game and marched the length of the field for an apparent Paul Ritzheimer touchdown that was negated by a holding penalty. The Warriors settled for a Ryan Becherer field goal.

In the second quarter, Wesclin took advantage of good field position and executed a short touchdown drive, capped by Letwon Williams' two-yard run. The Warriors tacked on two when Sopiars scrambled for a two-point conversion after a fumbled snap.

The start of the game was delayed about forty-five minutes by lightning, and there was another stoppage in the third quarter, with Wesclin leading 11-8.

Wesclin may also have lost its starting quarterback. Jake Sopiars has been diagnosed with a concussion, and is out for at least this week's game and perhaps longer.

Wesclin opens its conference season this Friday at home, against Red Bud. Game time is 7 p.m.

"I think the kids are excited about this week because it's the home opener and they want to atone for what happened Friday," said Murphy.

Wesclin's soccer team rode its defense all the way to the championship game in this past weekend's Metro Cup, but a couple of costly breakdowns on the defensive end ended their championship dreams with a loss to Columbia.

"We wouldn't have gotten to the championship game without our defense," said head coach Mark Lockowitz. "The first tiebreaker to get us to the final was points allowed, and we shut out all three teams we had played. But in the finals, we had a couple of unfortunate defensive breakdowns and it cost us."

The Warriors blanked Civic Memorial, Mater Dei, and Central to get to the title match in a tournament with no semifinals due to rainouts on Friday.

Despite the loss, Lockowitz said his team turned some heads among other coaches with its play this weekend. "I think a lot of other coaches were impressed with the pace of our play," Lockowitz said. "We have to continue to stress that, to use our team speed to our advantage."

Wesclin 2, Civic Memorial 0

Tyler Shaw scored a pair of goals, and Wesclin's speedy defense smothered Civic's plodding attack as the Warriors posted a shutout in their first game out.

Just five minutes before halftime, Shaw headed in a Nick Mastromatteo crossing pass to put Wesclin in the lead. Shaw added another goal at 11 minutes into the second half on a breakaway, and that was all Wesclin needed.

Civic only managed six shots on the game, while Wesclin got off ten.

Ryan Vincent recorded eight saves in the shutout.

"Civic has a big, strong, physical team, but our guys weren't intimidated and I think they were surprised by our team speed," said Lockowitz. We didn't allow them to get into any kind of possession flow. You can't hang on to the ball against a team like that, and I thought we did a good job of connecting passes."

Wesclin 3, Mater Dei 0

The Warriors shut out Mater Dei on Tyler Shaw's hat trick, with Brad Reibold picking up assists on two of the goals, and overcame the Knights in a physical game.

Wesclin's defense suffocated the Mater Dei attack, holding the Knights to just three shots on goal while the Warriors fired 15.

Wesclin 2, Central 0

After the teams battled to a halftime tie, Nick Mastromatteo broke the scoring ice with a penalty kick nineteen minutes into the second period. Brad Reibold added an insurance goal about 12 minutes later, on a direct free kick from about 35 yards.

Central only managed two shots on the game, and none after halftime. Wesclin got off 13 shots on the game, and had seven corner kicks.

Columbia 5, Wesclin 2

While the score would seem to indicate a whipping, the Warriors loss to Columbia in the title game was deceiving in a couple of ways.

Wesclin largely controlled the action, with a 17 to 11 shots on goal advantage, but a couple of key defensive lapses resulted in easy Columbia goals.

"Our attack was strong," said Lockowitz. "For us to let up five goals, that's just unacceptable, and our keeper didn't stand a chance on most of them."

Columbia's keeper had ten saves, and "he kept them in the game, because we pummeled him with shots," Lockowitz said. "I'm just so proud of the way the boys played, our intensity level. We showed up to play, and we really took it to them."

Reibold and Mastromatteo scored Wesclin's goals.

Wesclin's golf team already has a tournament and three matches under its belt. The Warrior golfers finished ninth in the eleven-team field at Okawville; competed in a quadrangular affair at Governors Run, and lost to Carlyle and Central in relatively close matches.

Kyle Zimmermann shot a career-low 37 over nine holes to tie for medalist honors at Governors Run. Shawn Arentsen and Zimmermann each shot 45 to lead Wesclin against Central. Brian Phagan was low man against Carlyle with a round of 44.

Phagan was low player with an 83 in the 18-hole Okawville tournament, a score that tied for 11th overall. Zimmermann carded a 91, Arentsen 101, and Ross Turner 105 for Wesclin. Two-time defending class A champion Mason Jacobs of Massac County won the event with a round of 69.

Wesclin's volleyball team opened its season on a positive note this week, winning a pair of matches on opening day of the Marissa tournament.

The Lady Warriors swept both teams in two games, taking Lebanon 21-12, 21-10 and handling Waterloo-Gibault 21-13, 21-18.

Brittany Wallace and Jillian Hausman teamed up for 28 assists over the two matches, Gretchen Rieger had nine kills over the two-match span, and Kayla Drummond converted eight times. Erin Ranz led the team with eight digs against Marissa, while Hausmann had seven, and Boeser saved six balls from the hardwood. Wallace had seven digs against Lebanon, with Ranz and Rieger picking up five digs each. Rieger piled up 11 service points against Lebanon.