Rebels Win 5th Straight Section Championship

Wes Vork-NSO

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Nov 4

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

DULUTH- It seems like the more things change the more they stay the same, and that is exactly what happened Thursday night at Public School Stadium in Duluth as the Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels defeated the Braham Bombers to win their fifth straight Section 7AA championship and advance to the state quarterfinals next Friday night in St. Cloud. Following a close contest in the first half, it was the Rebels pulling away to beat the Bombers 35-8.

The Rebels started the first half of the championship game slowly Thursday night. Despite scoring on their opening drive, a 37 yard touchdown scamper from Chris Gassert that led to an early 7-0 lead for the Rebels. The Braham Bombers however were determined to fight tooth and nail and that’s what they did in the first half holding the powerful Rebel offense to only seven points at the break. The Rebels did have some poor starting field position as the Bombers punting game backed the Rebels up deep in their own end.

“We came out strong in the second half and that’s what we needed to do,” Head Coach Dave Louzek told Northland Sports Online. “With Braham keeping us in check in the first half we needed to put together a nice drive and control the clock.” That’s just what the Rebels did as they scored on their first drive of the second half; it was Chris Gassert again scoring this time from six yards out and the Rebels led 14-0.

Adam Johnsen scored on a 6 yard run himself in the third quarter as the Rebels built up a 21-0 lead after three quarters. The Rebels then used their defense to continually shut down the explosive Bomber offense and Jacob Disterhaupt scored twice in the fourth quarter, as the Rebels rolled to the 27 point win.

Gassert, a junior back
pitched in to help cover for the loss of starting back Holden Olson, out with a fractured arm.
Gassert rushed for 244 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdowns. Johnsen also stepped up having a very productive night with 91 yards on 19 carries.

“Our defense really played hard tonight,” Louzek added, “These kids work so hard making it the fifth straight trip to the state tournament is great.” Louzek also mentioned that he thought that “this is possibly the best defense that we have had in the twelve years that I have been a head coach.” The Rebels will need to continue to rely on their highly touted defense, they will face either Eden Valley-Watkins or BOLD as those two teams meet Friday night to determine the champion of section 5AA.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com