Rebels Capture Seventh Consecutive Section 7AA Title

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Nov 1, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

DULUTH- The Rebels of Moose Lake-Willow River captured their seventh straight section title on Thursday night as the Rebels beat the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers by a final score of 40-7 at Public Schools Stadium at Duluth Denfeld High School.

Jake Disterhaupt and Michael Pender each scored three touchdowns Thursday night as the Rebels scored 40 unanswered points en-route to the 33 point win. The Hilltoppers scored the first touchdown of the game Thursday when Jake Serre stripped the ball from Michael Gassert of the Rebels and raced in from 34 yard away to give the Toppers a 7-0 lead.

The Rebels would then respond scoring the next 40 points on their way to the Section 7AA title. Following the Marshall touchdown, Jake Disterhaupt scored for the Rebels on a 24 yard touchdown run as it was a tie game at 7-7. Michael Pender scored four minutes later on a 6 yard touchdown run to give the Rebels a 14-7 lead.

The Rebels added one more touchdown in the first quarter as Tony Adamczak connected with Disterhaupt on a 66 yard touchdown reception and the Rebels led 20-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Rebels made it 26-7 when Michael Gassert scored on a 4 yard touchdown run and the Rebels went into the halftime break with a 19 point lead over the Hilltoppers.

Disterhaupt scored his third touchdown of the third quarter when he found paydirt on a 58 yard touchdown run and a 22-7 led the end of three quarters of play. Pender scored his third of the game in the fourth quarter as he scored on a 14 yard touchdown run and the Rebels move on the state quarterfinals next Friday.

The win over Marshall was the sixth different opponent they have defeated in the section finals over the last seven seasons. Deer River was the only team the Rebels had defeated twice in the past seven section title games. Two Harbors, Braham, Hinckley-Finlayson, Rush City, and now Marshall have all fallen to ML-WR in the last seven section finals.

The Rebels will now face either Barnesville or Hawley, who will play tomorrow night in Fargo in the Section 8 AA tournament. The winner will square off with Moose Lake-Willow River next Friday night in the state quarterfinals at St. Cloud State University.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com