REBELS LOSE ON THE ROAD

The MCC Rebel Football team played their second game of the season on the road this past Friday night against the Springfield Tigers. The Tigers have won section 3A the last three seasons and finished second in the state tournament the last three years. The last team to win the section was the MCC Rebels in 2021. A year ago, the Tigers beat the Rebels twice by 10 points each time, the last being in the section final. The Rebels were looking for some revenge. But with their starting quarterback out of action, the Rebels needed to just score their first points of the season first.

The Rebels were missing Teague Meyer due to injury on Friday, which meant the Rebels’ Noah Frisk would make his first varsity start. When running an option offense the quarterback is probably an even bigger impact than some other offenses because each handoff features his decision making and ball fakes. The youngster would hold his own, considering he was starting against a team that scored 68 points the week before and is one of the top teams in the area. The Rebels would force an early turnover in the game, but after a long drive to start the game, the Rebels turned it over on a fumble. The two teams would play a scoreless first quarter but the second quarter was dominated by the Tigers. Springfield scored three touchdowns in the second quarter with Isaac Fredin scoring two touchdowns, the first on a 16 yard catch with 10:32 to play in the half. He added another score on an 8 yard reception with 4:02 to play. The final score came after a Rebel turnover with 1:27 to play on a Paytin Johnson one yard run. The Tigers led at the half 21-0.

The second half saw each team fail to score on their first drive, but it was the Rebels who got a good bounce. The Rebels drove inside the Tigers 50 before the drive got bogged down and the Rebels were forced to punt. Caleb Rosenbrook’s line drive punt was hit by a Tiger and the Rebels’ Keagan Wiekeraad recovered the loose ball. MCC drove down the field, led by Carson Lewis, who made some tough runs. Even with a couple of penalties, MCC’s Noah Frisk would score the team’s first points of the season on a one yard run. Jordan Sturges added the two point conversion and the Rebels trailed 21-8 after three quarters.

The Rebels had some momentum for the first time in the game, but the Tigers came right back with, not one score, but two. Isaac Fredin had an amazing game for the Tigers. He scored his third touchdown of the game on a 12 yard run catch with 9:26 to play in the game and then he added another on a pass that was tipped by the Rebels. He caught the deflected pass for a 15 yard touchdown with 7:11 to play. The Tigers led 33 to 8 before the Rebels scored the final points of the game. Max Mathiason, a sophomore running back for the Rebels, broke a 39 yard touchdown run with 5:59 to play in the game and the extra point by Sturges made the final score 33 to 15.

The Rebels ended the game with 4 turnovers, while Springfield gave the ball away 3 times. The Tigers finished with 8 penalties for 50 yards while MCC had 5 penalties for 35 yards. Carson Lewis led the Rebels with 60 yards rushing in the second half, while Gabe Tentinger and Jordan Sturges ran for over 35 yards each. Mathiason finished the game with 3 carries for 42 yards and the long touchdown run. The TIgers are now 2-0 on the season while the Rebels are 0-2. MCC will play the next two games at home Sleepy Eye United comes to Slayton this Friday and Homecoming will follow against RTR.