Rebels down Midwest Oilers

By: 
Nathan Oster

Face Burlington at home Friday afternoon for conference title

With a key matchup against Burlington on the horizon, the Riverside Rebels held up their end of the deal on Friday, throttling Midwest 63-29 to ensure that their clash with the Huskies would be for not only bragging rights but also a conference title and home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Reece Whisenant accounted for four touchdowns — three rushing and one on a kick return — to power the Rebels to the win over Midwest.  The senior finished with 144 yards on 14 carries, an average of more than 10 yards per attempt.

Through the air, the Avery Clifford to Wyatt Daly-Patterson connection was clicking for the Rebels. They hooked six times for 99 yards, including two scores.  Clifford’s final line showed 12 completions in 18 attempts for 137 yards. 

Daly-Patterson, Clifford, Jaxon Womack added rushing touchdowns and Ryder Kozisek a defensive tally with an interception return.

Coach Jason Mitchell’s team got off to a rough start this season, losing its first two games to Little Snake River and Encampment.  Those are now the top-ranked teams in the classification, barreling toward a week eight showdown of their own.

The Rebels, meanwhile, haven’t lost since. With their rout of Midwest, they’ve reeled off four straight wins.

“That was our first chance to test ourselves against what will likely be another playoff team,” said Mitchell. “Ten Sleep is struggling with numbers and a couple of the other opponents we played probably aren’t going to make it, so it was very important to have a good showing against Midwest.”

The Oilers feature quarterback Quincy Paris, the classification’s leader in rushing and all-purpose yards.  The Rebels game plan focused on stopping him.  “He one of if not the single best athlete on our schedule,” said Mitchell. “Our game plan going in based around stopping him.”

Paris did not finish the game, departing with an injury. But the Rebels were already ahead by multiple scores when the injury occurred. “I thought our kids did an excellent job of showing extreme discipline.  That was our focus -- for no one player getting emotional and trying to solve him on his own and to instead working in tandem with teammates to accomplish it.  They did an excellent job.”

Kozisek led the
defense with 17 points, including four assisted tackles, three solo tackles and an interception.  Zach Kuntz had six assists, two solos and a fumble recovery for 15 points.  Clifford was next with 14, coming on an assist, two solos, a tackle for loss, a sack, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery.

 

Showdown

The Rebels and the Huskies play Friday afternoon in Burlington, with kickoff set for 2 p.m.

Mitchell called it “the biggest game of the regular season.

“You start with the fact that they are the defending state champs, factor in that it’s a 20-minute drive so there’s a natural rivalry and that we’ll be playing for a one seed and a home game through the second round. Whoever wins will basically get to stay home until the championship round. That’s huge.”

Mitchell described the Huskies as “a well-coached, disciplined team that won’t make a lot of mistakes.  We’ll have to earn it.”  Offensively, he’s looking for balance, saying that’s when his team is at its best.

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