Rebels start season with win over Crescent Heights

TIMES FILE PHOTO

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

Fall is in the air and the Rebels are back on the gridiron.

After a quick training camp, the W.R. Myers Rebels football team was back in action this past weekend for their first game of the season. The team hit the road Friday afternoon for a game against the Crescent Heights Vikings in Medicine Hat. Jason Jensen, head coach of the Rebels, explained this year’s squad features plenty of new faces as many seniors graduated from the roster.

“Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in the past two decades, the 2022 Rebels have some high expectations to try and live up to. We graduated a lot of key seniors, and have a large rookie class coming in, so there are plenty of answers around the team. All of the coaches recognize that there is a ton of talent on this squad, but you never really know how good you are until you test yourselves against a tough opponent. And the first game on the schedule definitely provided that,” he explained. “The Crescent Heights Vikings came into the game ranked #5 in Football Alberta’s rankings for Tier 3, while the Rebels were ranked #3 in Tier 4. So, this was a real step up in competition for Myers.”

Once the game started, the Rebels saw what a great team the Vikings were, but that didn’t mean they were going to back down at all. The coaches saw some great defence from their squad which kept the game close in the first half.

“The entire first half was a physical dogfight. The Rebels were able to move deep into Vikings’ territory several times, but were only able to come away with a single field goal. Thankfully, the Rebels’ defence turned out to be just as stout, and despite Crescent Heights managing to drive into the red zone on three occasions, a goal line stand, an interception in the endzone, and even a blocked field goal kept the Vikings off the scoreboard and sent the game into halftime with a score of 3-0,” stated Jensen.

While both offences may have stalled a bit, the coaches were happy with being up by a single field goal in the first half. Coming out of the break, the team made a few changes and the coaches preached to the players to dig in a find some ways to score.

“At halftime, we made a few adjustments, moved some guys around to cover for injuries, and just drove home to the boys to keep up the intensity. This game was an all-out war, but they had proven that they were more than capable of giving as good as they got, we just needed to stick to the gameplan,” continued Jensen. “The Rebels came out in the second half with the fire the coaches asked for, pinning Crescent Heights deep on the opening kickoff, and forcing them to go two and out.”

After a great start to the third quarter, the Rebels’ offence got another chance to tack on some points as they found themselves in a great position.

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