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The MCC Rebels opened Section 3A football playoffs with a home game Tuesday night against the Adrian Ellsworth Dragons. The same two teams played in Adrian last Wednesday to complete the regular season. The Rebels won that game in double overtime to earn the right to host the playoff opener against the Dragons. It was a beautiful night for football and both teams were ready to play. The winner knew they would play the TMB Panthers on Saturday because the Panthers had already advanced due to Wabasso not participating in the playoffs. With the Panthers in the stands the Rebels and the Dragons would take to the field of play for the second time in six days.
When you have two teams that played each other so close together you wonder if the game will be a repeat of game one or does one team have the advantage over the other. In this case the Rebels having as healthy of a roster as they could possibly have at this point in the season and everyone in the lineup played a huge factor in the game. The Rebels moved some of their athletes around on defense to slow down the Adrian Ellsworth running game as the Dragons dominated the time of possession in the regular season finale. The Rebels didn’t slow down the Dragon run game, they stopped it. The Dragons ran for just 50 yards in the entire game the Rebels had 30 more yards on a single run in the game. The first quarter was played quickly without either team scoring; the Rebels had plenty of yards but failed to score on their first drive and the Dragons picked up one first down on a penalty against the Rebels before being forced to punt. The game would change in the second quarter.
The Rebels would dominate the second quarter. First Dylan Doeden of the Rebels would block a Dragon punt giving the Rebels great field position inside the Adrian Ellsworth 30 yard line. MCC would score on a 22 yard pass to Christian Tentinger to put the Rebels ahead 6-0 with 9:46 to play in the second quarter. Christian Tentinger would continue his dominance against the Dragons on the next Dragon series as a bad snap would fly past Breyer Hieronimus and would be recovered by Tentinger. The Rebels wouldn’t score a touchdown on the drive by Mason Wendland would kick a 25 yard field goal to put the Rebels ahead 9-0 with 6:18 to play in the first half. The Dragons would recover a short kick and would not pick up a first down and they would punt, pinning the Rebels at the 20 yard line 5:59 to play in the half. Carter Benda would make it a one play drive, running around, side stepping by, and running through Dragons on his way to an 80 yard touchdown. The Rebels led at the half 15-0.
The third quarter would be more evenly played on the scoreboard anyway. The Rebels would make the score 22-0 on another Christian Tentinger touchdown catch this time covering 10 yards with just under six minutes to play in the quarter. Wendland would make the extra point and MCC was up 3 possessions. The Dragons would answer about a minute later after a 44 yard double reverse pitch back pass to Brock Henning would set up a Quenton Wolf touchdown run of two yards. To make the score 22-6 which would be the score after 3 quarters of play.
The Rebels had the ball going into the fourth quarter on the drive immediately after the Dragons score. MCC marched down the field with some strong runs by Benda and Ross Engelkes. The Rebels would finish the drive on a Carter Benda two yard touchdown run with 10:22 left in the game which put the Rebels ahead 28-6. The Dragons would get the ball back but Christian Tentinger made another terrific play grabbing an interception with 6:37 to play and less than a minute later Tentinger would be left wide open and he would catch his third touchdown of the game on a 35 yard pass making the score 34-6. Adrian Ellsworth didn’t give up because they would come back and score one more touchdown this time it was the Dragons passing the ball down the field to Aiden Tweet and Brock Henning that would set up another Wolf touchdown run and two point conversion to make the score 34-14. The Rebel would seal the game with a Carter Benda interception to give the ball back to the Rebels with under two minutes to play. The Rebels would get the win 34-14.
It was a very different game than the first meeting last week but one name dominated both contests. Christian Tentinger had a terrific two games against the Dragons. In the two games Tentinger caught 5 passes all were touchdowns. In this game he also had a fumble recovery and an interception to go along with a sack. Carter Benda was back at full strength again in this game and the senior didn’t disappoint, running 20 times for 204 yards and two touchdowns. The Rebels outgained the Dragons 325 yards to 249 yards but the Rebels never trailed. It was a drastic turnaround from the first game between the two teams but the Rebels made the big plays that mattered on the scoreboard. The Rebels will head to Tracy Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm as the underdog looking to get back to the Section Final next week.
