TIGERS CAN’T TAME MUSKETEERS

The Red Bud Musketeers continued their winning ways in exciting fashion, coming from behind to beat the Dupo Tigers 32-28 Friday night at AC Daugherty Field in Dupo.  The win extends the Musketeers record to 4-0 on the season, 2-0 in the Cahokia Conference while the Tigers fell to 1-3, 0-2 in the Cahokia Conference.  The Tigers fought hard in the contest but again came away with a loss despite outplaying the opposition in several facets of the game.  Dupo Tiger Coach Vernon Ferry said, “We should have won.  We’re better than our record shows.  The second half is evidence of that, we held them to 6 points.”

The first half was eventful as the Tigers for the second week in a row opened the game with a recovered onside kick executed beautifully by kicker Caleb Tatum and covered by Matt Ragsdale.  Then on the first play from the line of scrimmage the Tigers went back to Ragsdale passing the ball to him as he scampered 44 yards for the touchdown just 11 seconds into the game.  Tiger’s running back Joe Higgerson ran for the extra point and the Tigers jumped out to an 8-0 lead.  But the Musketeers were not deterred as they scored on their next drive on a 47 yard pass play with 8:56 left in the first quarter.  The kick for the extra point was good and the Tigers led by just a point 8-7.  Neither team scored for the rest of the first quarter but the offenses came alive in the second quarter.  The teams exchanged scores as the Tigers were led by the thunder and lightning of Joe Higgerson (24 carries/126 yards/2 TDs) and Matt Ragsdale (7 carries/119 yards/2 TDs) who each scored touchdowns in the quarter.  The Musketeers were led by their quarterback Jake Hoffman (20 carries/205 yards/2 TDs) who passed for a touchdown and ran for a touchdown in the second quarter including a key 23 yard touchdown pass with no time remaining to give the Musketeers the lead at halftime 26-22.  Coach Ferry said, “The end of the first half when we allowed that touchdown as time expired really hurt us.  We didn’t execute well on defense.  We didn’t tackle well and it killed us.”

The third quarter saw each of the defenses take over as there was no scoring in the quarter.  In the fourth quarter it seemed that the Tigers offensive line was wearing down the Red Bud defense.  Good punt returns by Matt Ragsdale gave the Tigers great field position and the Musketeers defense had difficulty stopping the Tigers running game.  Red Bud Coach David Lucht said, “Defensively we had a hell of a time stopping their running game.  They weren’t doing anything fancy.  That first play from the line of scrimmage caught us by surprise.  But they went with their stud Joe Higgerson and he carried them up until the very end.  We couldn’t stop them.  It was a heck of an effort by them offensively.”  Coach Ferry said of Higgerson, “As far as running backs go he is as tough as they come.  Our line played well on offense and Matt Ragsdale had a great game running, receiving and on returns.”

The Tigers worked their way into Musketeer territory and had a 1^st and goal at the Musketeer 10 yard line, but the Tigers could not convert turning the ball over on downs after they failed to convert on a 4^th and goal at the 5 yard line with 9:10 left in the game. 

The Tiger defense forced a three and out by the Musketeers and after a short punt the Tigers Matt Ragsdale again exploited Musketeer special teams returning the punt to the Red Bud 14 yard line.  Joe Higgerson rushed the ball for 4 yards on first down bringing up a 2^nd and 6 yards to go at the Musketeer 10 yard line.  Higgerson took the 2^nd down carry again 10 yards for the score giving the Tigers the lead.  The two point conversion failed as the Tigers now led 28-26 with 6:02 left in the game. But the Musketeers came right back on the ensuing kickoff returning it to midfield.  Then on a 3^rd and 5 at the Tiger 40 yard line Red Bud quarterback Jake Hoffman ran 40 yards for a touchdown giving the lead back to the Musketeers with 5:09 left in the game.  The two point conversion was no good leaving the score 32-28 Red Bud.

After another fine return by the Tigers’ Matt Ragsdale, the Musketeers were penalized after a late hit giving the Tigers excellent field position again at the Red Bud 35 yard line. The Tigers running game began to methodically move the Musketeers back step by step.  As the Red Bud defense keyed on Joe Higgerson, Tiger running back Tyler Maynard (13 carries/73 yards) came through with some solid runs in the drive. But as the Tigers drew nearer to the Red Bud goal line the Musketeer defense stiffened until the Tigers were faced with a 4^th down and less than a yard at the Red Bud 15 yard line with 1:45 left in the game.  After a Dupo timeout Tigers quarterback Caleb Tatum tried a quarterback sneak up the middle only to be stopped just short of the first down and turning the ball over on downs to the Musketeers.  Red Bud then ran the clock out sealing the win 32-28.  Musketeer Coach David Lucht said, “This was probably our biggest defensive task of the season thus far.  They were coming at us with big bodies.  Their line did a fine job against us.  It’s a complex offense to run that’s hard to stop and we don’t see it very often, so it was hard to prepare for.  It took us awhile to get adjusted in our sets.  I feel lucky to get out with this win.”

For the Tigers the loss makes the remainder of the season an uphill task.  Any share of a Conference title is out of the question and the Tigers need to win four of their next five to even be considered for an at large berth in the playoffs.  While the Tigers should win their next three against Wesclin, Northwest Academy and Carlyle nothing is certain.  The Tigers have to finish the year against a Freeburg team that is on a roll and a finale against a good Chester squad.  Coach Ferry said, “This is going to be tough one to come back from.  We’re going to have to work really hard to pick ourselves up after this loss.  It’s a heartbreaker.  This is one of those games that can make or break a season.”

September 19, 2009

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