REBELS FOOTBALL WINS AT HOME

The MCC Rebel Football team played their first home game of the season on Friday night. After starting the season with two road games the Rebels were at home for the first time. The Rebels opened the season with back to back losses to a pair of good teams. Sleepy Eye United was 1-1 entering the game with a win over BOLD and a loss to RTR. The Rebels clearly liked playing at home as they would put together their best all around showing of the season against Sleepy Eye United.

The first play of the game would say a lot about this game. On the opening kickoff of the game Sleepy Eye United would fail to handle the ball cleanly and they would recover the bouncing ball at the 15 yard line. After three plays and a penalty the Rebels had the ball inside the 50 yard line on the Sleepy Eye United half of the field. The Rebels would go to work with Carson Lewis and Gabe Tentinger leading the way for the Rebel run game. MCC would get inside the 2 yard line and Tentinger would score the first touchdown of the game. The two point conversion was scored by Lewis and the Rebels led 8-0 with 5:45 remaining in the opening quarter. The Rebels would get the ball back as MCC would recover an onside kick but the Rebels drive would end due to a key penalty that would back the Rebels up. The defenses would play well for the rest of the first quarter and the next score wouldn’t happen until early in the second quarter. MCC would drive for their second score of the game led by Jordan Sturges. Sturges would have a key first down run early in the drive when it looked like the Rebels would be forced to punt. Then Noah Frisk would complete a ten yard pass to Gabe Tentiger for the teams first completion of the season picking up another first down. Sturges scored a touchdown with 8:15 to play in the first half. The two point conversion would fail but the Rebels would take the 15-0 lead into halftime.

The Rebels dominated the first half on defense. Sleepy Eye United was held to single digit rushing yards. Though they did complete five passes they struggled to extend drives and failed to pick up first downs. The Rebels offense on the other hand controlled the ball and the tempo of the game and that would not change in the second half. MCC would start with the football and MCC would score just three minutes into the third quarter. Lucas Kubal who was playing fullback would break a touchdown run off the right side of the formation sprinting 30 yards for the score. Jordan Sturges would convert the two point conversion and the Rebels led 22-0. The Rebels would get the ball back on an interception by Carter Hansen. The Rebels would then drive down the field mixing in runs by Sturges, Tentinger, and Carson Lewis. The Rebels’ big run would come from Sturges who would break a 27 yard run to get the Rebels inside the ten yard line. Carson Lewis would score his first touchdown of the year on a seven yard run. Sturges kicked the extra point and MCC was in front 29-0. MCC would wrap the game up in the 4th quarters as the JV players got a chance to see some Friday Night Lights. Max Mathiason would run the ball 5 times for 31 yards and Parker Olson would get 2 carries for 44 yards and a 34 yard touchdown run. The Rebels would get the shutout win 35-0 The Rebels offense had 6 players with more than 30 yards rushing in the game. Sturges led the Rebels with 92, Lewis 84, Kubal 78, Tentinger 63, Olson 43, and Mathiason 31. Noah Frisk completed 2 passes for 20 yards with a catch each for Tentiger and Mathiason. Carter Hansen and Tentinger had one interception each as the Rebels forced 3 turnovers. MCC held the Sleepy Eye United starters to 0 rushing yards. The two young players who came into the game in the final minutes led the team with 43 yards on 4 carries. Brayden Heiderscheidt did complete 10 passes for 117 yards but 2 INT’s. The Rebels are now 1-2 on the season with a homecoming matchup with RTR Friday night.