Rebels Back to State

Dwight Cadwell _NSO

Rebels Defense Stops Barnum

Dwight Cadwell

All Season long the MLWR defense has played like a unit of men possessed on preserving the Rebel endzone all year long. This season the Rebels entered the playoffs allowing an average of a little over 8 points per game defensively and most of opponents scoring occurred late in games the Rebels second or third units were on the field. The fact the defense played so well that it led to the 13-0 win over Barnum.
“All season long the defense played so well, this is one of the best units I have coached,” Head Coach Dave Louzek stated. “They are very quick and pursue as a entire unit.”

The defensive unit did what they had done all season long in their victory last Thursday over Barnum in the section 7AA title matchup the pressured the Bombers Quarterback Hayden Charboneau and didn’t let him have the time he normally does to throw the football.
“We knew we had to pressure Charboneau make him uncomfortable and not let him have time to get set and throw the ball,” Louzek mentioned “he’s a great quarterback and we knew we had to stop him.”

MLWR would score the only touchdown of the first half when Micah Thompson scored on a 39-yard touchdown run on a 4th downplay. The score remained 7-0 until early in the 4th quarter when the Rebels again scored on a short touchdown run from Thompson again.
MLWR were shorthanded Thursday in the win as Kaden Robbins was out with an injury and Jaxson Schmidt was limited to only a few plays on night. “We had two important players out that game and I give credit to the ones who stepped up and filled their roles, that’s our philosophy if someone is hurt or injured the next player steps up.”

“We had some opportunities but give the Rebels the credit they stopped us when we had those chances,” Barnum Coach Bob Minkkinen related. “We had such a great season it doesn’t seem real that it has ended.”
Barnum ended their wonderful season with a 10-1 overall record. MWLR advances to the state quarterfinals Thursday in Forest Lake where they will face Eden Vally-Watkins.

This will be the third time these two schools will meet in the state quarterfinals, the Rebels defeated the Eagles back in 2006 and Eden Valley-Watkins topped the Rebels in 2010 when they met in St. Cloud.
“They are a team with a good defense and the have two offensive sets they use, one a spread offense and the other is a power wishbone and they try to pound the ball down the field so we will have to be ready for either scenario.” Louzek said, “It should be a good matchup with a team we are familiar with, we have been in a position to play in many state tournament games over the years and have also developed rivalries at the state level not just the local ones.”