FOOTBALL RESULTS DECIDED IN THE FINAL SECONDS

The MCC Rebel Football team was at home Friday night taking on the Springfield Tigers. Springfield, last season had an amazing year, winning the Section 3A championship, then advancing all the way to the state title game, where they lost to the Minneota Vikings.

The Tigers lost several great players from that team but they return a strong team this season that is young and talented. Like the Rebels, the Tigers got a double digit win in their first game, dominating the Adrian Ellsworth Dragons. It would be a tough battle Friday night that would come down to the very last second.

This game was played in shifts, with the MCC Rebels dominating the scoreboard through most of the first half, while the Tigers dominated most of the second half. The Rebels got the game started with a strong drive which would come down to a big play in the Rebel triple option offense. Gavin Gillette busted a 39 yard touchdown run with 7:57 to play in the first quarter. The Rebels went for the two point conversion and Teague Meyer took it in for 2, giving the Rebels an 8-0 lead. A couple plays later, on Springfield’s first touch of the game, Meyer got an interception to give the Rebels the ball back, inside Tiger territory. Meyer scored on a two yard run with the extra point by Carson Engelkes putting the Rebels ahead 15-0. The Rebels created another turnover in the second quarter on a Noah Mathiowetz fumble recovery. The Rebels Carson Engelkes hit a 32 yard field goal after the Rebels drive bogged down inside the 20 yard line. The Rebels led 18-0 with 2:24 left in the half. The Springfield Tigers trailed 18-0 with just a couple of minutes left in the first half but they began to pick up their offense after they stopped committing penalties and they held on to the football. The Rebels would force a 3rd down and long play late in the second quarter and Parker Kuehn would throw a short pass over the middle to Aiden Moriarty. The 6’3” 240 pound sophomore made the catch and ran down the middle of the field for a wide open 59 yard touchdown. The Rebels led 18 to 6, as the two point conversion would fail. That would be the score at half but the Tigers defense tightened up and the Rebels offense couldn’t find points.

In the third quarter, Moriarty scored his second touchdown of the game on a two yard run with 4:47 remaining in the quarter. The two point conversion was good to make the score 1814 Rebels. The Rebels offense picked up some yards and used the clock, but they did not score. Late in the 4th quarter, the Rebels drove into Tiger territory, but on a 2nd down and 6, the Rebels got called for delay of game. The Tigers forced a punt and with under two minutes to play, Springfield had the ball. The Rebels had their chance to stop the Tigers, but on a key play the Rebels first missed a sack, then Kuehn threw a deep pass down the middle and the Rebels failed to knock it down as Brayden Sturm made a great catch for a first down. WIth just 13 seconds left in the game and MCC on top 18-14, Gavin Vanderwerf scored on a one yard touchdown run to give the Tigers the lead. The two point conversion made the Tigers lead 22 to 18. The Tigers scored another touchdown with no time on the clock when a long-lasting lateral play was fumbled by MCC in the end zone and recovered by Springfield for a touchdown to make the score 28 to 18.

The Rebels scored the first 18 points of the game but the Tigers scored the final 28. MCC forced 3 turnovers while giving up two themselves. The Rebels committed 5 penalties for 27.5 yards while Springfield committed 5 penalties for 25 yards. The Rebels offense was kept in check most of the final two quarters, but the Rebels needed one more score. Carson Lewis again led the Rebels with over 80 yards rushing. Teague Meyer, Andrew Holm, and Gavin Gillette all ran for 30 or more yards, but the Rebels didn’t score in the final 26 minutes. The Tigers offense was led by their passing attack in terms of yardage, as Brayden Sturm, Isaac Fredin, and Aiden Moriarty all had over 50 yards receiving. Vanderwerf and Moriarty had over 30 yards rushing and in the end, it was enough for the 28 to 18 win in a great game. The Rebels will look to bounce back this Friday against Windom Area.