Rebels Make it Nine Straight

Dwight Cadwell – NSO

Photos By:   Joyce Hibke

The Moose Lake – Willow River Rebels made it 9 Straight section titles Thursday night as the Rebels pounded the Rangers of Crosby-Ironton to advance to the state quarterfinals next Saturday in Brainerd. The Rebels used a punishing ground attack as the Rebels amassed over 368 yards on the ground pounded in five touchdowns run en-route to a 38-6 win Thursday evening.

Bryceton Butkiewicz had three touchdown runs an both David Mooned and Wyatt Lampel scored touchdowns as the Rebels won their ninth consecutive section 7AA title and their 8th straight at Public School Stadium. The first of the nine straight occurred at UMD in a win over Deer River to start this run.

Butkiewicz who finished with 191 yards rushing on 19 carries scored the first touchdown of the night on a 17 yard touchdown run as he broke free along the sideline which put the Rebels in front 8-0 following a Moonen two point conversion. The Rangers scored their lone touchdown in the second quarter to cut the Rebels lead to two points at 8-6 when Crosby-Ironton Quarterback Noah Gindorff scored on a 39 yard touchdown run to cut the lead to two.

The Rebels seeing the Rangers score with only 4:40 left in the first half took the next drive and marched down the field on a very methodical drive and it was Butkiewicz who scored from two yards out and also punching in the conversion the Rebels took a 16-8 lead into the break at halftime.

The second half saw the Rebels take an opening drive and marched down the field only to see the drive end on a fumble recovered by the Rangers. Crosby-Ironton then with the momentum put together what seemed like a touchdown drive stopped deep in Rebel territory only to see the drive stopped as the Rebels defense came up big and forced the Rangers to fail on a fourth down attempt.

Following that stop be the Rebel defense it was the Rebels offense kicking in as they scored on a three- play 70 yard drive which was capped by a 12 yard touchdown run from Butkiewicz. The soft spoken sophomore told Northland Sports Online that “the line opens up so wholes for us sometimes its very easy, i give all the credit to those guys.” Whats equally impressive as the Rebels offensive output was how solid their defense was Thursday. “we knew all about Larsen and Hudrlik in the backfield we watched film and more film so we knew the plan and the whole team played well.”

Lampel and Mooned scored fourth quarter touchdowns the put the icing on the cake for the Rebels as the will move into the stat quarterfinals next Saturday afternoon in Brainerd. Moonen who finished with 134 yards on the ground said “we are seniors and we what this one to be a special one, and hopefully we can bring that title home.”

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@norhtlandsportsonline.com