The red zone had the Albert Lea football team seeing red Thursday after three drives stalled inside the 20-yard line in a 26-7 loss in Waseca.

The Tigers (0-1) reached the red zone four times in the game and had just seven points to show for their efforts. The only score came in the second quarter when Luke Grossman scampered in from 2 yards out to make it a 14-7 game before halftime.

Albert Lea had a chance to tie the game the game before halftime but a pass on fourth down fell to the ground. It was just the beginning of missed opportunities in the second half for the Tigers.

In the fourth quarter Albert Lea had a touchdown pass negated by a holding penalty and a dropped pass inside the 10-yard line kept the Tigers scoreless in the second half.

The third quarter opened with Albert Lea going three-and-out and on their next possession the Bluejays (1-0) intercepted Tiger quarterback Kyle Kriewall and returned it to the 8-yard line.

Sam Milbrett found the end zone a few plays later to make the game 22-7 in favor of Waseca.

The Bluejays made it 26-7 later in the third when quarterback Brad McIntosh ran in from a yard out.

“I think at times we were sharp and at times we weren’t,” said Albert Lea head coach Clay Anderson.

The Tigers moved the ball effectively until they hit the red zone. Albert Lea amassed 323 yards of offense and outgained the Blujays by 30 yards.

Kriewell led the Tigers in rushing with 74 yards and threw for more than 100 yards in his first career varsity start.

“That’s kind of exciting that we moved the ball well,” Anderson said. “That was encouraging.”

Penalties and turnovers hampered Albert Lea throughout the game as the Tigers committed 10 penalties. Albert Lea also had three turnovers which led to 12 points for the Bluejays.

“We just made mistakes,” Anderson said. “That’s part of high school football, but it’s frustrating.”

The ability to move the ball against Waseca was a positive for Anderson, but there remains some work to do to tidy things up.

“I think the positive out of it is we have a lot of upside,” Anderson said. “We had a lot of juniors that played out there. I think we’re going to get better as we go along.”

Albert Lea plays host to Winona Friday.

Waseca 26, Albert Lea 7

Albert Lea 0 7 0 0 —  7

Waseca 6 8 6 6 — 26

First quarter

Waseca — Pederson 1 run (kick failed)

Second quarter

Waseca — Klug 23 pass from McIntosh (Milbrett run)

AL — Grossman 2 run (Cooper kick)

Third quarter

Waseca — Milbrett 14 run (kick failed)

Waseca — McIntosh 1 run (pass failed)

AL W

First downs 16 12

Total net yards 323 293

Rushes-yards 35-157 40-176

Passing 166 117

Punt Returns 2-10 2-10

Kick Returns 4-25 2-22

Interceptions Ret. 0-0 2-50

Comp-Att-Int 9-24-2 7-12-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties 10-70 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Albert Lea, Kriewall 7-74, Grossman 15-71, Stolt 6-12.

Passing — Albert Lea, Klatt 5-131, Grossman 1-26, Rasmussen 2-6, Marka 1-3.