by Brian Magee
The Red Bud Musketeers ended their football season with a loss Saturday in Belleville to the Althoff Crusaders. The game began with the Musketeers receiving the opening kick and gaining a first down before being stopped by the Crusaders’ defense resulting in a Red Bud punt. Althoff also started out moving the ball against the Red Bud defense, but turned the ball over in their own territory giving Red Bud an opportunity to jump out to an early lead. The Musketeers were unable to push the ball in when a third and long pass fell to the ground in the end zone and forced Red Bud to punt. This was the pattern for much of the first quarter as each team looked for a weakness in their opponent to exploit; the quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
For more from the game, please see this week’s print edition.