Published: September 04, 2008 10:02 am      

Frosh fall to East in opener

BELLEVILLE — The freshman Rams football team suffered a 22-14 loss in its season opener Tuesday at Belleville East.

The Rams took an early lead in the first quarter as, after tackling the Lancers’ punter at the 10-yard line, Ryan Gibson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Blake Stricklin ran in the 2-point conversion for Mt. Vernon.

Later in the same period, following another Lancer turnover, the Rams were able to punch it in on a 2-yard TD run by Anthony Moore. The 2-point conversion failed, leaving Mt. Vernon with a 14-0 lead.

East did not cross the 50-yard line until a shanked punt went 10 yards, giving the Lancers field position at the Mt. Vernon-14. East scored and made the 2-point conversion with 26 seconds left in the quarter.

The Rams led 14-8 at halftime and were able to hold the lead throughout most the third quarter as both teams struggled offensively. A failed fake punt by Mt. Vernon gave East the ball at the Rams’ 35, from where the Lancers eventually scored. East failed on the 2-point conversion, leaving the two teams knotted at 14.

The Rams were driving with 6 minutes left in the game but turned the ball over on a fumble at the East 35-yard line. East scored with 5 minutes left in the game to take a 22-14 lead.

“We have so many things to work on for improvement that it’s hard to know where to begin, said Coach Scott Tickner. “Our conditioning was a real problem as our kids just ran out of gas in the third quarter.

“We’ll go back to work Wednesday and see how much we can improve before we travel to O’Fallon for a 10 a.m. game Saturday.”