Tigers offense struggles early against Bears

Published 9:06 pm Friday, October 15, 2021

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In the penultimate game of the regular season, the Albert Lea football team traveled to Byron Friday night to take on the 1-5 Bears.

After a promising opening play by the Tigers, they struggled to move the ball after that point, while the Bears scored on every possession in the first half, cruising to a 55-6 victory.

Senior Garrett Giles started the game with a 22-yard pickup on the ground, but the Tigers were forced to punt just three plays later. The Bears took the ball and never looked back, scoring plays later on a 7-yard run.

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Albert Lea proceeded to punt on every possession through the rest of the first half, while Byron scored on each of their possessions.

The Bears took a 55-0 lead into the halftime break.

After the break, the Tigers came out and got their first defensive stop of the night, forcing a Byron punt on the first drive of the half.

The teams traded punts back-and-forth over the next few possessions until Albert Lea fumbled the ball to give the Bears solid field position. However, the Bears fumbled the ball right back to the Tigers and sophomore Connor May was ready for it, scooping the ball and taking it 70 yards to give the Tigers their first score of the game. The PAT was missed, making the score 55-6.

Despite the score, the deficit was too much to overcome. The Bears ran the running clock out the rest of the game.

Byron started numerous drives inside the Albert Lea red zone, all of which resulted in touchdowns.

The Tigers fall to 0-7 this season and will play in their final game of the regular season Wednesday when they host the Packers of Austin.

Albert Lea is currently at the bottom of the section standings and would take on the No. 3 seed in the first round of the Section 1AAAA playoffs.

About Tyler Julson

Tyler Julson covers sports for the Albert Lea Tribune.

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