Rebels Get Tough Fought Week One Victory

Wes Vork-NSO

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Sept 1, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

BARNUM- Most observers entering Friday’s game featuring Moose Lake-Willow River and Barnum meeting up on the football field for the first time in six years would have said the Rebels would easily walk away with a strong performance in the season opener and get ready for week two. But, as fans left Barnum on Friday night, many had a respect for the Bombers as they played fairly even with the Rebels, although they lost 21-6.

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Head Coach Dave Louzek praised the Bombers saying “They are tough kids and well prepared. Coach Robertson had them ready to play us.” Louzek added ‘Our kids might have overlooked them a little but hopefully it was a wakeup call that there are great teams out there who are ready to play. We need to be ready to play each and every week.”

“Mostly it is just praise for Barnum. Those kids weren’t intimidated by our size and our numbers. There defensive line really took it to our offensive line; five of our offensive linemen are starters from last year and their defensive line stood up and just played a great game” commented Louzek.

Rebels senior Jake Disterhaupt led the Rebel as he finished with three touchdowns on the night, including one receiving, one rushing and an 89 yard touchdown interception return. Disterhaupt also add a two point conversion in the victory Friday night. Disterhaupt stated “It feels great to be back and I feel great personally.” “There’s a lot of kinks; fumbles, guys out of place, we had a touchdown called back, things that shouldn’t happen. But we will work on it as a team and we will get the kinks worked out.”

The Rebels opened up a 13 point halftime lead and added another score in the third quarter on Disterhaupt’s 82 yard interception return which made the score 21-0 and was a huge momentum killer. Barnum had been driving and was seeking to cut the Rebels lead in half. The Bombers interception was one of two turnovers on the night for Barnum, while the Rebels had to overcome five turnovers.

The Bombers got their score after a Rebels fumble as the scored on a 13 play drive which resulted in an 18 yard touchdown pass from Brandon Newman to Daniel Warpula that made the score 21-6. Newman’s two point conversion attempt failed and the Rebels would run the clock out and take the opening season victory to capture the Little Brown Jug as the schools resume this long standing rivalry.

Barnum’s first year head coach Brian Robertson was very proud of his team, “We told our boys we’re not basing the season on one game; we’re just going to come out and battle every play and that’s what we did. This was a bit different than other first games of the season that we’ve had but, like I said were not basing the season on one game and I think it will help us in the long run.” Robertson added “When you look at how tough our schedule is this season, we will have a lot of chances to prove ourselves and we should be ready to go once playoffs come baring no injuries.”

The Bombers will play at 4AAAA Cloquet next Friday night as the move into the second week of the season. “It will be the same story, they will have more players, bigger players, faster players; but these kids are tough and we will go out and play and see what happens” commented Robertson.

The Rebels will travel up to Duluth to take on Marshall in a section contest next Friday afternoon at 4:00pm.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com