By Devin Smith

In a foggy post-Halloween showdown between a pair of winless teams the Ariton Purple Cats would walk away with its lone win of the season by a score of 60-20 over the Zion Chapel Rebels.

The stagnant offense of the Rebels was only able to accumulate 207 total yards for the game, with 105 of those yards coming in the final quarter.

The Purple Cat defense allowed only 13 yards rushing, and did now allow Zion Chapel to score until the two-minute mark in the third quarter.

Rushing was not an issue for Ariton who racked up yards on the ground almost at will, lead by junior Edson Cosme’s 13 carries for 166 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite an 0-10 finish to the year and a resounding final blow dealt by his own former high school football coach Julius Head, Bradley Bowers is proud of the resiliency that his team showed not only on Friday evening but in the midst of what has been a very difficult season for the Rebels.

“We still didn’t quite see the improvement that we wanted to,” said Bowers. “But I am still proud of the effort. This season has been a test of their character, how they stuck it out through the entire year and continued to play hard while constantly working to get better.”

With the victory over Bowers’ squad Head will now look to use the momentum gained to build toward the season to come with hopes of a big turnaround.

“I’m proud of them all, seniors especially,” said Head. “If we would’ve played like that all year we might have had a chance to win some more ballgames. Our younger players know now what it’s going to take to get the program turned around, we just got to keep working to get better and hit those weights.”

As for Zion Chapel, the road to redemption may be a bit steeper.

Although the Rebels will be losing some veteran leadership for next year they will have the advantage of playing experience, the task at hand now is to get the ball rolling.

“The thing we have to do now is try to get a little momentum going,” said Bowers. “We need to get a good off-season weight program and have a good spring practice.”

For Bowers and his Rebels, a new season starts tomorrow.