Despite an outstanding defensive effort last Saturday afternoon, the Affton Cougars came away on the short end of an 8-0 score to the Troy Trojans and suffered their first loss of the 2003 prep football season.

Mike Woolledge had a strong game on the defensive side of the ball for Affton, leading his team by getting in on 20 tackles on the day, while Kornell Simmons paced the Cougar offense with 87 yards rushing. In total, Affton accumulated 193 yards on the ground. Affton Coach Dan Oliver knew that the Cougars were in for a test against Troy.

“I knew they were a good team,” he said. “They did a great job on defense staying with Kornell. He just couldn’t get free.”

Even in a loss, Oliver believes his team can build on what took place in the game.

“We made some strides in certain areas,” he noted. “And some things happened in the game that could have changed our fortune. We had a punt that could have been downed roll into the end zone and we had a couple of dropped balls.”

Troy is now 1-2 on the season, while Affton fell to 2-1 and faces a short week of practice since it plays Ladue on Thursday.

“Hopefully we learned some things last weekend and can go on,” Oliver told the Call. “Our defense did play really well against Troy, and we’ll be ready to go for the Ladue game.”

Ladue, meanwhile, comes into the game at 3-0 but has yet to face a team with as much talent as Affton. Ladue’s most recent win came last Saturday when it knocked off Vashon, 31-18. Ladue’s other two wins were over 0-3 Farmington and 0-3 Hillsboro. Vashon is 1-2, its lone win was over 0-3 DeSmet.

Affton and Ladue will play on at 7 p.m. today — Sept. 25 — at Maplewood High School, 7539 Manchester Road.