What started as a shootout ended as a defensive battle Friday night, as Wesclin's football team opened its conference season with a 28-14 loss to visiting Red Bud.

The Musketeers improved to 2-0 on the season with the victory, while the Warriors fell to 0-2.

Red Bud shocked the Warriors by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, after first fumbling it and then utilizing a hidden-ball, misdirection routine to confuse the Warrior kicking squad. The Musketeers would break off a couple of more long returns with similar strategy later in the game.

After taking the subsequent kickoff, Wesclin rolled to tying touchdown behind junior quarterback Ryan Becherer, making his first-ever varsity start. Senior signal-caller Jake Sopiars was on the sideline with a concussion for Friday's game.

With 4:38 left in the first quarter, Red Bud quarterback reached the end zone on a six-yard run to make it 14-7, but Wesclin needed only three plays--including Zach Haselhorst's fifty-yard burst down the sideline and Becherer's first touchdown pass to Sean Rakers--to tie things up again with 2:48 left in the quarter.

That was all the scoring the Warriors would accomplish on the night, while Red Bud put up 14 second-quarter points to earn the win.

The Warriors managed just one first down and 69 total yards in the second half, and 65 of those came on a single play, a third-quarter Letwon Williams run that put Wesclin at the Red Bud 15 before a fumble thwarted the drive.

Williams had 104 rush yards on the night for Wesclin, while Haselhorst totaled 67 yards on the ground.

In its final match before the Labor Day break, Wesclin's soccer team played Mater Dei to an unsatisfying 1-1 tie.

Despite outshooting the Knights 19 to 7, Wesclin couldn't put the finishing touch on their scoring chances. The Warriors also suffered a significant loss to their defense when sweeper Charlie Bair suffered a knee injury.

"We played well in the first half," said Wesclin coach Mark Lockowitz. "We just couldn't finish. In the second half, we were lackadaisical. I thought we stood around a lot and didn't really attack the ball or make much attempt to connect passes. This team has a chance to be really good, but we have to play with more intensity and passion for the game."

The tie came just days after the Warriors had beaten Mater Dei 3-0 in the season-opening Metro Cup tournament on their way to a second place finish.

The teams battled to a 0-0 tie at halftime, and Mater Dei struck first, nine minutes into the second frame. Tyler Shaw tied things up five minutes later with assists from Taylor Lockowitz and Jim Jenkins.

Things stayed that way until the end of regulation, and after two overtimes didn't produce any more scoring, the tie was official.

Wesclin's volleyball team is off to a quick start to the season, having won their first five games, including a thrilling championship match win over Columbia in the Marissa Tournament.

The Lady Warriors started the Marissa affair last weekend with victories over Lebanon and Gibault, then stepped into regular season play Tuesday for a sweep of Sparta.

On Thursday, the tournament resumed with the championship round. Wesclin, winners of their pool, faced off with Pinckneyville in the semifinals, and swept the Lady Panthers 21-10 and 21-8 to vault into the title match against Columbia.

Wesclin carried a number two small school ranking into the match, while Columbia was third in the area, and both teams lived up to their reputations, riveting spectators during a closely-fought, three-game victory for the Lady Warriors. Wesclin won the opener 21-15, and Columbia came with a 21-18 win to set up the rubber match. The Lady Warriors came out on top 15-9 to capture the championship.

Kelsey Boeser tallied six service points to lead the Lady Warriors, and also recorded a team-high 15 digs. Gretchen Rieger converted seven kills in 24 attacks, and Alicia Litteken had four kills. Jillian Hausmann and Brittany Wallace contributed eight assists each. Wallace and Litteken each had ten digs.

Wesclin 21-21,

Pinckneyville 10-8

Wesclin overwhelmed Pinckneyville in the tourney semifinals, led by six kills from Gretchen Rieger and a balanced serving attack that featured six points each for Brittany Wallace, Erin Ranz, Rieger, and Jillian Hausmann, and five service points for Kelsey Boeser. Kayla Drummond had five kills on a team-high fifteen attacks.

Wesclin 25-25,

Sparta 18-20

In a regular-season match that divided the Marissa Tournament, Wesclin swept Sparta in two competitive games.

Kayla Drummond had seven kills and Alicia Litteken converted nine of 11 serves in the match to lead the Lady Warriors.

Brittany Wallace had ten assists and Jillian Hausmannn seven, and Gretchen Rieger piled up 13 digs. Wallace had six successful service points, and Hausmann and Ranz served five winners each.

Wesclin product Morgan Lockowitz didn't take long to make her presence felt on the soccer field at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Lockowitz scored twice in a span of 2:04 early in the second half Saturday to tie the Lady Miners' game with Upper Iowa, then assisted on the go-ahead score in a 4-2 UMR victory.

Lockowitz, who scored 31 times as a high school senior at Wesclin, got her first collegiate goal 5:35 into the second half when she scored from right in front of the net. Lockowitz then tied the score just over two minutes later on another unassisted tally.

At the 67:43 mark, Lockowitz got in on the scoring again, only this time it was to assist on what turned out to be the decisive goal. Her pass to Janine Einhellig in front of the goal was put home by the UMR junior to give the Lady Miners their first lead of the afternoon.