W.R. Myers Rebels continue to roll in the fall

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

It was another W.R. Myers Rebels win in Week 5 as the team took on their arch rivals — the Willow Creek Cobras. With another game at home, the team extended their winning streak to three with a 27-19 win against the Cobras.

“Willow Creek is our biggest rival, and we’re both perennially in the top five in the province in our Tier, so we knew going in that we were in for our toughest test of the season. They’re talented, hard-hitting, and well-coached, so they’re the type of opponent that creates a bit of a mirror match for us and really pushes us to our limit,” said Jason Jensen, head coach of the Rebels.

Starting the game, the Rebels started out strong with a quick offensive strike.

“We managed to get out to an early lead, as our defence forced the Cobras to go two and out, leading to our offence going on a seven-play drive, capped by an Elias Cooper 69-yard touchdown run,” explained Jensen. “From there, both teams traded short drives, with the defences really stepping up and limiting the offensive outputs. We even had Blake Bareman block a punt to keep the field from being flipped too badly. Finally, midway through the second quarter, Willow Creek found a bit of a gap in our defence and exploited it to rip off an 81-yard touchdown. On the ensuing PAT attempt, Bareman was again able to get into the backfield and block the kick, keeping us in the lead 7-6. A pair of interceptions by brothers Logan and Brigham Porter kept the Cobras from finding the endzone again, and that 7-6 score held up going into halftime.”

With a low-scoring first half, the coaching staff didn’t want to change their game plan too much. Tweaks here and there were discussed, but overall, the coaches wanted the team to stick to the plan.

“In a virtual stalemate game like this, it’s really hard to make adjustments, but we tweaked a few things and encouraged the boys to keep the foot to the floor because we knew Willow would be coming out just as intense as we were,” stated Jensen.

Coming out of the break, the Rebels were once again able to provide some quick offence to extend their lead.

“Early in the second half, the defence was able to down the Cobras punter on their own two-yard line, after a fumbled snap. Our offence took advantage of this, and on the next play, Cooper found the endzone again, to put us up 14-6,” said Jensen. “Now a series of events like that might cause most teams to quit, but we knew that wouldn’t be the case with Willow Creek.”

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