Rebels’ game against McCoy Colts halted in third quarter due to injury

By Cole Parkinson
For Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Looking to get back into the win column, the W.R. Myers Rebels were back on the gridiron this past weekend. After a defeat at the hands of the Cardston Cougars in Week 3, the Rebels were looking for another win on the season as the Monsignor McCoy Colts on Sept. 22

“It was a fun night down at Ken McDonald Park, as we were having our annual fan appreciation night, along with honouring our graduating seniors during pre-game introductions, and with custom printed banners of each Senior player,” explained Jason Jensen, head coach of the Rebels. “McCoy is a young team and in a bit of a rebuilding process, but they have some very good, experienced coaches whom I know very well, do despite their inexperience, I expected a well-coached team, that would give us all we could handle.”

When the game got underway, the Rebels were able to kick-start things right away. As they have done for most of the season, the home team was able to collect the first points of the game.

“We got off to a strong start, with a seven-play drive before senior slotback Brigham Porter opened the scoring with a 32-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0 early. From there, we each traded short drives, and even traded fumbles on back-to-back plays before slotback Elias Cooper hauled in a 50-yard pass from quarterback Dane DenHollander to make it 14-0 as the first quarter expired,” added Jensen. 

While the offence was able to really get things going for the Rebels, their defence was just as good. With McCoy looking to add a score or two of their own, the Myers’ defensive unit held strong.

“The Colts kept coming, but our Rebels managed to capitalize on the chances we got, with Porter again finding the endzone, this time on a 62-yard pass reception from DenHollander. McCoy wasn’t just going to give up though, and managed to pressure our PAT unit into bobbling the hold, keeping it to 20-0. the Rebels’ defence wasn’t about to be outshone by our offence though, and those boys gave the Colts very little room to work, and pretty quickly we had the ball back,” continued Jensen. “Four plays later, Cooper hauled in his second touchdown pass of the night, and it was 27-0 with 6:13 to go in the half. after another strong Myers defensive stand, the offence went on their final drive of the half, capping it with a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Allen Clements. After another PAT blocked by the Colts, we went into halftime up 33-0.”

With a big lead heading into the break, it was hard for the coaching staff to find many flaws with how the Rebels had responded to the loss from the previous week. And thanks to that lead, it allowed for the team to rotate their lineups and allow some of the younger players to get into game action.

“Our plans for the second half were to get a lot of younger, and new-to-football players some quality playing time, as the tough games we’ve had so far haven’t given us much breathing room to make substitutions. We drove home to the boys that putting in the backups didn’t mean we were taking our foot off the gas though. McCoy certainly wasn’t going to let up, so we couldn’t either. The same level of intensity was the expectation, no matter who was in the game,” stated Jensen. 

It was another fast start for the Rebels in the third quarter. Like the first quarter, the Rebels’ saw their offence come alive and provide even more breathing room.

“The players came out roaring to start the second half, as senior cornerback Kade Hansen forced a fumble on the opening kickoff, and it was recovered by senior linebacker Blake Bareman, giving us possession on the Colts’ 32-yard line. Two plays later, and Cooper was in the endzone again,” said Jensen. “The Colts definitely proved adept at blocking kicks though, and they were able to keep it to 39-0. Our defence hit the field with several younger players subbed in, and they quickly showed their worth, holding McCoy to two and outs for the rest of the quarter.”

With the Rebels looking to wrap up the quarter with a big lead, an injury on the McCoy side would cut the game short.

“Unfortunately, the game would be cut short, as two Colts players collided on a group tackle, and one of them suffered a concerning neck injury. An ambulance was called as a precaution, but thankfully the medics determined that it wasn’t serious, and the player was able to get up and walk off under his own power. With the delay, the concern over the injury, and the result being a foregone conclusion at that point, both coaching staffs agreed to just end the game at that point,” explained Jensen. “Now, it’s great to get the win, but that’s a tough note to end things on. We really would have liked to get the younger guys some more playing time, and it was looking like the game was going to be on more even ground from there on out. There are more important things than playing football, however, and I’m just glad that the Colts player is okay.”

Another win is in the books for the Rebels, and the coaching staff has been incredibly encouraged all season with the team. Next up for the Rebels is a league game against Catholic Central High School.

“All in all, I’m pretty happy with our performance. The boys put on a good show for the fan appreciation/senior night crowd. 16 different players recorded tackles, some of whom getting on the stats sheet for the first time this season, so that was pretty cool. But now we turn our attention back to league play, as we have the Catholic Central Cougars coming to town on Friday. Yet again we’ll be punching up, as CCH is a perennial Tier 2 contender, and I’m sure will give us another tough test. We haven’t played them since 2018, so it will be fun to see how we stack up against the Cougars,” added Jensen.

The CCH Cougars come to Taber this Friday for a 7 p.m. kick-off at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Complex.