The mission is pretty clear for Wesclin's football team. Win this Saturday over Paris and make the playoffs. Lose and the season's over. The Warriors, winners of four straight after a 1-3 start to the season, face 1-7 Paris Saturday afternoon at Wesclin High School. With a limited number of "playoff points," the Warriors can only get to the postseason with six wins.

Last Friday night, Wesclin became "playoff eligible" by earning its fifth win of the season over cross-county rival Central. To do so, the Warriors had to overcome a couple of bizarrely successful plays by the Cougars and answer with one of their own.

The Warriors took a 7-0 lead on their first drive of the game, when Zach Haselhorst plunged over from a yard out and Ryan Becherer converted an extra point. The lead held until halftime, but Central put up 12 third quarter points on two unlikely plays.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Central was forced to punt, and the kick was so bad it turned out to be good for the visitors. The ball never crossed the original scrimmage, and Central's punter scooped it up and carried it all the way to the Wesclin one after it was ruled to be a fumble rather than a dead ball. As the quarter closed, Central quarterback Kevin Jansen escaped a furious Wesclin rush on fourth down and found teammate Brennan Richter in the end zone, 21 yards away.

A stunned Wesclin team snapped out of it by pulling a gadget play of their own out of their bag of tricks. On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Luke Gruender completed a reverse pass to Wesclin quarterback Jake Sopiars who made a great catch and scampered down the sideline for a 70-yard hookup that gave Wesclin the lead at 13-12. Letwon Williams did the rest, electrifying the home crowd with a pair of long touchdown runs to put the contest out of reach. Williams found paydirt from 54 yards away with 5:30 left, and finished off the Cougars with a 67-yard gambol. Williams gained 177 yards on the night, while Sopiars picked up 83 and Zach Haselhorst ground out 34 yards on nine carries.

Despite a big night for Central's Jansen, who picked up 222 yards on the ground, Wesclin's defense was solid when it needed to be, and two fourth-quarter interceptions helped key the victory. Wesclin picked off four balls in all, including two by Sopiars, who has 25 for his career.

In a late Tuesday night result, Wesclin's soccer team beat Anna-Jonesboro at Anna to advance to this Thursday's sectional semifinal at Columbia, starting at 7 p.m.

Wesclin's Tyler Shaw scored on a Nick Mastromatteo crossing pass 35 minutes into the contest, and the Warriors made the tally hold up.

"We moved the ball well, and our defense won a lot of balls," said head coach Mark Lockowitz. "I thought we really utilized our speed at the wing positions well."

Anna-Jonesboro had ten shots to Wesclin's nine, and Wesclin goalkeeper Ryan Vincent had nine saves.

Wesclin's soccer team scored three consecutive goals Friday to overcome a 1-0 deficit in the first round of sectional play at New Baden Park. The win advanced the Warriors to the quarterfinal of the Columbia sectional. Wesclin played Anna-Jonesboro Tuesday for the right to a semifinal game berth against Columbia on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Against Altamont, Steven Curtis tied the contest up at 1, Shane Kirkland scored the go-ahead goal, and Tyler Shaw netted an insurance tally.

Earlier in the week, Wesclin beat Carlyle 5-0 to close out the regular season. Tyler Shaw scored for Wesclin just two minutes after the opening whistle, and Brian Lallish scored on a Jimmy Jenkins assist ten minutes before halftime to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead. It was Lallish's first-ever varsity goal.

Ryan Reibold scored on a direct kick 13 minutes into the the second half, Tyler Shaw scored unassisted three minutes later, and Chris Tyra finished the flurry with a goal three minutes after that.

Wesclin's volleyball team will close out its regular season Thursday on Senior Night at Wesclin gym against conference foe Columbia. The Lady Warriors won't play again until next Thursday in the Carlyle regional. Wesclin plays Thursday, October 25 against either Roxana or Alton Marquette, for the right to play in the championship that same evening against either host Carlyle or Metro East Lutheran. The title match starts at 7:15 p.m.

Meanwhile, the frosh conference tournament will begin this Saturday, also in Carlyle.

Last week, the varsity Lady Warriors split a pair of conference matches, losing to Central on Tuesday and beating Red Bud Thursday.

Central 25-25, Wesclin 22-15

After playing a close first game, the Lady Warriors couldn't maintain the pace against a powerful Central squad. Gretchen Rieger had six kills to lead Wesclin. Brittany Wallace had eight assists, and Jillian Hausmann set up five Wesclin points. Wallace, Hausmann, and Kelsey Boeser had eight digs each for Wesclin.

Wesclin 25-17-25, Red Bud 18-25-22

The Lady Warriors took a close one from Red Bud Thursday, and Kayla Drummond hammered 14 kills and Gretchen Rieger added nine. Brittany Wallace had 19 assists for the Lady Warriors, and Jillian Hausmann also reached double figures with 12. Rieger had 15 digs for Wesclin, and Kelsey Boeser had 12. Alicia Litteken converted nine service points.