The 2014 football season is upon us. It seems as though 2013 finished last week but here we are again. This years’ squad has put in a ton of work to make this season a success. Coach Dillan Trunck, Coach Kirk Dinsdale, and Coach Sean Babinat have been busy getting these guys ready for the opening game. The Union game was cancelled so we opened up with Dike New Hartford on Monday September 8. We knew we would have our work cut out for us as the Wolverines have a very good tradition, kids, and coaching staff. We would need to be ready to play for 40 minutes.

DNH took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march right down the field and punch in an early touchdown to take a 6-0 lead. After a mishap on our kickoff return, the ball ended up in the hands of the Wolverines and they made quick work of the short field and lead 14-0 after 1 quarter. We had received our wake up call now and we answered with a Parker Bown 3 yard TD run and a Walker Thede 3 yard TD reception from Hunter Lott. Parker’s PAT kicks were good to knot the score at 14. DNH added another score before the half to take a 22-14 lead into the break. We bounced back and got a score early in the third on a Hunter 9 yard run but failed on our PAT and trailed 22-20 when the lightning, thunder, and rain came at the start of the fourth quarter. The game was called do to the conditions. It is too bad because this was turning into a really good football game with two teams playing with a lot of effort and emotion. It was a very good game played by both teams. We started slowly but improved with every snap and that was what we are after in that opening game.

Parker led the way with 69 yards on 10 carries and a TD. Hunter added 19 yards rushing and 116 passing on 8 of 11 accuracy. Walker caught 3 balls for 35, Matt Roeding 1 catch for 34, and Parker 2 grabs for 26 yards, and Erik Knaack caught 2 for 21 to round out our offensive totals. Thomas Mussig led the defense with 8 tackles followed by Parker with 6 and Erik, Matt, and Jed Peterson with 4 each. Hunter, Dmitriy Strohbehn, Tyler Pierce, Slade Wager, Rhett Barnes, Mason Skovgard, and Josh Saak all were credited with 2 tackles each. Walker, Gage Murty, and Cael Wyatt each had a stop also for our defense. Joseph Pepe, John Edler, Alex Tscherter, Matt Johannsen, Owen Beach, Caden Kickbush, Josh Peterson, Seth Gretillat, Christian Kibe, Hunter Smoldt, Kyle Koppen, Spencer Goos, Bryce Schick, Bronson Wrage, Joel Davis, Jacob Burch, and Will Blakesley round out our Freshmen and Sophomore football players for 2014. All of these guys have worked hard and I know that will continue throughout this year. We will continue to improve each time out.

Our next action will be Thursday September 18 at Denver for a FS game. That game will begin around 7 p.m.. On Monday September 22 we will host the Cyclones from Denver in a 6 p.m. kickoff for a JV battle. Hope to see you on the sidelines to witness the up and coming Rebel football players.

On Thursday September 18 the F-S Rebels traveled to Denver to do battle with the Cyclones. Coach Barrett has turned Denver into a quality program and we knew going in this would be a tough match up for us. The Cyclones traditionally play hard and are pretty physical so we were expecting the same.

The game started off not so well for us. Our first possession we went three and out and the Cyclones proceeded to block our first punt. With a short field, they marched right into the end zone in three plays. It was like we were still on the bus. We did not know what had hit us and we made no attempt to fix it. Denver dominated much of the first half but we were able to keep them off the scoreboard. It was only 6-0 at the half but could have been much worse. We made our adjustments and stormed back with the tying touchdown early in the third quarter to knot the score at 6-6. Denver hit a couple of big plays and hit pay dirt early in the fourth to go up 14-6. We came roaring back and marched down the field only to give the ball up on downs after a failed fourth down attempt from the Cyclone 18 yard line. The final score was 14-6 in favor of Denver. We battled hard the second half and turned this into a game. We need to focus and execute and exert energy on every play. We will make this happen and this will be a good football team by year’s end.

Gage Murty led the way with 45 yards rushing before an injury sidelined him. Walker Thede finished with 126 through the air and 1 TD. Owen Beach ran hard and came away with a career high 36 yards on 6 carries. Josh Saak added 3 yards rushing and 12 yards receiving. Alex Tscherter grabbed 2 catches for 36 yards and a score. Caden Kickbush hauled in 3 balls for 44 yards and Mason Skovgard chipped in with 3 catches for 34 yards to add to our offensive totals. Defensively Josh led us with 9 tackles followed by Walker, Mason, Kyle Koppen, and Dmitriy Strohbehn with 5 each. Josh Peterson 4, Caden, Spencer Goos,Will Blakesley, and Seth Gretillat 2, Gage, Matt Johannsen, John Edler, Joel Davis, and Cael Wyatt each had a stop for our defense. Walker also recovered a fumble.

We will continue to work hard and get better. Our next F-S action will be later in October. We have had a couple of cancellations but we will keep you posted. These guys along with the rest of the sophomores will still be playing virtually every Monday night. Come on out and see the future of Rebel football.