MCC REBEL FOOTBALL COMES BACK IN OVERTIME

The MCC football team was coming off a tough loss to the Springfield Tigers. The Rebels had given up the game winning score with just thirteen seconds left in the game. There isn’t a team that wants to lose that way, but you can’t let the memory of one loss turn into two losses. The Rebels wouldn’t let that happen but it wouldn’t be easy.

The Rebels played their first game ever in Windom on Friday and the Rebels got off to a good start. The Rebels started the game with an onside kick and Noah Mathiowetz recovered in Eagle territory. The Rebels would fail to score, but it was a good start for the purple and black. The Rebels scored on their second drive of the game when Andrew Holm and Teague Meyer got the Rebels inside the Eagles ten yard line. Gavin Gillette scored on a seven yard run, which was his third touchdown of the season. Andrew Holm added the two point conversion to make the score 8-0.

The MCC defensive line was playing a great game, but the Eagles found some opening in the secondary in the passing game. The Eagles scored their first touchdown on a 22 yard pass from Charles Erickson to Hayden Tietz to make the score 8-6. The score would remain same until there was just one second left in the first half. Alex Melendez Gomez, a senior kicker for the Eagles, made a 35 yard field-goal to make the halftime score 9-8 in favor of the Eagles. It was a battle of opposites in this game as at the half. All of the Rebels offense came running the football, while almost all of the Eagles offense came from the passing game.

The second half would be a defensive battle until late in the fourth quarter. MCC’s Krew Schneider took over at quarterback in the third quarter and he would lead the Rebels on a drive in the middle of the fourth quarter. Carson Lewis and Andrew Holm had a couple of good runs to move MCC into the red zone. Schneider then threw a pass to Hudson Schryvers for 15 yards, a first down and goal situation. Schneider would score his first varsity touchdown on a one yard run. Andrew Holm scored the two point conversion to make the score 16 to 9 with a few minutes to play. The Eagles answered back with a couple of long passes; one of 20 yards and another of 29 yards to Jackson Joyce, a junior wide receiver for the Eagles. Hayden Tietz finished the drive on a two yard touchdown run. The extra point tied the game 16-16 and the two teams were headed to overtime.

The Eagles got the ball first in overtime and MCC’s defense stood strong, preventing the Eagles from scoring. On 4th down and two, the Rebels stuffed the inside run by the Eagles. MCC got the ball on the ten yard line and, then get four downs to score a single point. After a pair of quarterback sneaks by Schneider, the Rebels pitched the ball to their right and Andrew Holm scored the game winning touchdown on a 6 yard run. The Rebels would get the win 22 to 16.

The Rebels and the Eagles offensive numbers, in terms of yardage, were similar, with MCC having a few more yards. What separated the two teams was the big plays by the defenses. MCC combined for two turnovers and 6 sacks in the game. The Rebels defense lived in the backfield and if it wasn’t for some great moves by Charles Erickson, the yardage numbers would have heavily favored the Rebels. MCC was able to get the win with Andrew Holm picking up 80 yards on 13 carries and a total of 10 points, with a touchdown and two 2-point conversions. Carson Lewis ran 13 times for 43 yards. Gavin Gillette finished with 5 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown. The Rebels will host the Dragons of Adrian Ellsworth on Friday night for Homecoming 2024.