REBELS WIN FINAL HOME GAME OF SEASON

The MCC Rebels played their final home game of the season this past Saturday afternoon. The Rebels as the top seed in the Section 3A playoffs got home field advantage until the section finals and that meant a home contest against the Mavericks of Martin County West. The Mavericks played the Rebels for MCC’s homecoming in week 5 of the football season, a game in which the Rebels had to rally to win in the second half taking the lead with just 38 seconds to play. The Rebels wouldn’t have to sweat out this victory as the Rebels dominated with their defense for nearly 3 quarters. The Rebels would get a hard fought victory to advance in the playoffs.

The Saturday afternoon football game was played in dry condition to everyone’s relief this past weekend and the Rebels and the Mavericks were both happy to see dry footballs. MCW beat RTR 36-0 to advance to the Saturday showdown while MCC knocked off Wabasso 35-7. These two teams have featured strong offensive and defensive line play all season but on this day one team had a few more plays in them. That team would be the MCC Rebels but at first the Mavericks looked strong. In the regular season matchup the Mavericks came out looking to throw and they were very successful especially in the first half but in this game they ran the ball. MCW’s first drive began at the MCC 40 yard line after a poor onside kick rolled out of bounds. The Mavericks would get each of their four backs involved early. Christian Bachenberg the team’s quarterback would get a pair of carries as would running backs Joseph Forsberg, Rylan Cutler, and Carver Rohman. The drive would get inside the ten yard line before the Rebels would force an incompletion on 3rd down. The Mavericks Brandon Bagwell would kick a 26 yard field goal to give the Mavericks the lead. MCC would trail for just under seven minutes as MCC would drive nearly sixty yards to claim their first lead. The Rebels drive was highlighted by the duo of Carter Benda and Abe Paulzine. Paulzine’s rushing numbers have skyrocketed since the first meeting between the Rebels and the Mavericks and MCW might have been keying on him a bit more than the first meeting but that opened up Benda who ran 35 yards and Paulzine added 22 yards before Benda scored on a six yard touchdown run. The Rebels would claim the lead for the first and last time with 43 seconds left in the first quarter. The Rebels would fail to connect on the two point conversion but the Rebels would never trail again. The second quarter went back and forth with both teams not scoring points.

The game would change in the 3rd quarter as MCC would start with the ball. MCC would drive the field with a key play coming through the air as Paulzine would complete a 38 yard pass to Christian Tentiger to give MCC a first down. Benda would break a 14 yard run and Paulzine would score on a designed quarterback run. MCC would extend their lead to two possessions with the touchdown and 8:25 remaining in the third quarter. After forcing another Mavericks punt the Rebels would look to score again. The big play of this drive would be a twenty yard play on a hook and ladder. Paulzine would throw about a ten yard pass to the left to Peyton Coulter who as he was hit, would throw it backwards to a sprinting Nate Kleven. The starting tackle would run down the sideline for another dozen or so yards and MCC had it first and goal inside the ten. MCC would give the ball to Benda who would score on a 4 yard run and then Coulter would score the two point conversion to put the Rebels up 20-3 after three quarters.

The Rebels defense which prevented a touchdown in the first two quarters would stay strong in the fourth. MCW would put a good drive together getting inside the Rebel thirty yard line early in the quarter. MCC would hold strong and the pass by Christian Bachenberg into the endzone was intercepted by Brock Smith. The Rebels would get the ball at the 20 yard line after the touchback. Now MCC’s drive didn’t last long but on fourth down Paulzine would punt the ball to the 50 yard line. Zach Anderson would look to catch the punt at midfield but he would fumble it and Jackson Sturgis recovered the ball at the 50 giving the Rebels great field position. MCC would hit another big pass play to Christian Tentiger for 33 yards and a first down. MCC would drive inside the ten yard line before turning the ball over on downs at the seven. The Mavericks would put together a terrific drive covering 73 yards. Bachenberg would complete passes to Tanner Sinn, Jesse Potts, Zach Anderson, and Carter Lyons to move the ball down the field but it was eating up a lot of time. With 1:29 left in the game the Mavericks would score their only touchdown on a five yard pass to Tanner Sinn. The extra point was good making the score 20-10 but MCw was out of time as the Rebels recovered the onside kick and MCC kneeled out the clock giving the Rebels a 20-10 victory.

The Rebels defense was again strong, not allowing a touchdown until the very end of the game when the game was no longer in doubt. Carter Benda ran for 115 yards but scored two touchdowns. Christian Tentinger caught two passes for 71 yards. Abe Paulzine ran for 41 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown as the Rebels set up another rematch. MCC will play TMB on Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm at the Regional Event Center in Marshall on the campus of SMSU. The Rebels will play for a chance to get back to the state tournament.