Red Bud scored the first 34 points of the game, as they cruised to a 34-7 victory over Carlyle Friday night to improve to 3-0 on the football season and 2-0 in the Cahokia Conference.
“Carlyle played a good game against us, but we got a good performance from all of our players, and we are just having fun right now,” said Red Bud coach Dave Lucht. “Carlyle put together some good drives in the first half and really kept the ball out of our hands. However, we were able to make the most of it when we did have the ball and getting that late score with just seconds left in the first half to go up 2-0, was huge.”
The Musketeers put up 13 points in the first quarter to take control of the game early. Jake Hoffman scored from one yard out, but the extra point kick failed as Red Bud led with 8:13 to play in the first quarter. Hoffman then threw a strike to Alex Phegley for a seven-yard touchdown play and Stefan Gregson added the extra point, as the Musketeers led 13-0 with 18 seconds to play in the opening quarter.
Red Bud scored their next touchdown with just six seconds remaining in the first half when Hoffman and Ben Huegle hooked up for a 34-yard touchdown pass play and a 20-0 halftime advantage.
The game was put out of reach in the fourth quarter with another Hoffman touchdown pass, this time a 17-yard scoring toss to Mitchel Cleveland for a 27-0 lead with 7:06 remaining in the game.
The Musketeers put the final touches on their scoring just over two minutes later when Tyler Hubert scored on a 17-yard run.
Carlyle avoided the shutout by scoring their lone touchdown with 1:09 left in the game.
Hoffman had a huge night for Red Bud as he ran the ball 18 times for 117 yards, while completing nine-of-15 passes for 163 yards and three touchdowns.
“Jake looked real good out there,” said Lucht. “He ran the ball well and he made good decisions passing the ball. Mitchel also had a huge game for us and he just gives us another nice weapon and a good one-two running punch with Hubert.”
Hubert ran the ball 13 times for 79 yards, while Cleveland caught five passes for 102 yards.
Defensively for Red Bud, Trenton Guebert had seven solo tackles, six assists and two fumble recoveries. Huegle added four solo tackles and five assists for the Musketeers.
Red Bud will look to improve to 4-0 Friday night as they travel to Dupo, hoping to avenge last year’s one-point loss to the Tigers.