Four defensive starters injured in Belleville West football battle with this Missouri school

Belleville West’s football team saw their season record drop to 0-2 following a 49-0 road loss to Fort Zumwalt South on Friday night.

Maroons coach Jason Wells credited the Jaguars while also noting some of his team’s shortcomings.

“We made too many miscues and too many mental errors. We had trouble tackling,” said Wells, whose team lost 21-12 at Danville in the season opener. “We also got hit with the injury bug ... we had four defensive starters get knocked out due to various injuries so we had to play a bunch of our younger guys. Give credit to Fort Zumwalt West — they executed well.”

Wells praised his team for continuing to fight despite the one-sided score.

“The fight is there,” he said. “Especially when you’re on a losing streak, you might hang your heads — but not this group. They keep fighting. We’re going to turn it around and it’s going to be great.”

Wells also was pleased some younger players saw the field.

“Like I told them at halftime, guys who normally don’t get a chance to play will get a chance to play. We’ll be evaluating things this weekend and, come Monday, we’ll prep for DeKalb ... this was still an audition for them,” Wells said. “We told them we still have 24 minutes of football and to make it count. We were able to play a lot of our JV guys and they were able to get some varsity reps. Also, the backups were able to get in and do some good things.”

With that said, the second-year Maroons coach eagerly looks forward to the 2023 rematch with Fort Zumwalt West.

“Give all the credit to the Jaguars,” he said. “I look forward to seeing them in Week 2 next year when they have to come to Belleville and play at (Bob) Goalby Field.”

As Wells noted, his club faces DeKalb in Week 3 with kickoff set for 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. The Barbs beat the Maroons 45-6 last season.

“I know they lost 35-7 in Week 1,” he said. “We look forward to them coming down here. It’s our season home opener. We have to get ready for that. We’ll look at the film, see what they do well and try to take it away.”

Following the DeKalb game, West will open Southwestern Conference play at 7 p.m. the following Friday, Sept. 16, at home against Alton.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 10:34 PM.