Rebels Ready For Unchartered Waters

Nov 27

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels will be venturing into new and uncharted waters on Friday afternoon. For the first time in school history, the Rebels will be playing in the state championship football game.

The Rebels of Moose Lake-Willow River will face the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers in the Class AA championship game at the Mall of America Field at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Buccaneers defeated Eden Valley-Watkins last Saturday in a close and hard fought game 21-20 in overtime to advance to the state championship game. In overtime, the Buccaneers risked an appearance at the state finals. After Eden Valley-Watkins had scored on their drive and W-E-M had also scored, the Buccaneers successfully went for the two point conversion to advance to the state championship game.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown is making their ninth appearance in the state football tournament. The Buccaneers won their previous title in 1999. Waterville made four additional appearances and won a title in 1989. Morristown made two additional appearances in 1987 and 1988, before the two schools merged. This year’s team tied for 10th place in the final Associated Press football poll of the season. The Rebels, with their win, are the highest ranked team left in the tournament, finishing third in the final football rankings.

Coming off of an impressive semi-final win over Luverne, the Rebels will continue to rely on the running game paced by the trio of Austin Jacobson, Michael Unzen and Shane Rehbein. The Rebels will also continue to try to control the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively and their outstanding defense will face one more test.

Watch for live updates on Northland Sports Online and a complete wrap up shortly after the conclusion of the game.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached @ dwight@northlandsportsonline.com