Coming off a 16-game losing streak, the Zion Chapel Rebels struck up a fire in Calhoun and defeated the Tigers for an overdue 49-7 win.

With scoring drives in all four quarters, Rebel head coach Bradley Bowers said not only was he proud of getting his first win as a head coach, but he was proud of his team.

“Not only was it 0-3, but if I remember correctly, we were 0-16 which dates to somewhere back to October (2013),” Bowers “They’ve been trying to get that done for a while.”

Going into Friday’s game, Bowers said his offense and defense needed to be in a better place. Following Friday’s game Bowers said he was astounded at the difference he saw in his players.

“On offense, we had two guys that really carried the football well for us: Zach Whittington and Chris Adair,” Bowers said. “They both scored touchdowns, and Paquin also scored. On defense, we had a couple of guys with fumble recoveries. We actually basically covered their best player man-to-man. With an exception of Calhoun scoring on a long pass in the first quarter, we did well.”

But more than the physical change in his team, Bowers said his team had an even larger change in mentality going into the game this week.

“The biggest change we had all week was getting our team to expect to win,” Bowers said. “Looking at the schedule, and I mean no disrespect to Calhoun, but it was a game we should expect to win. We told them all week at practice we were going up to Calhoun to win a football game. That’s the mentality we had to have, so that’s the attitude we took all week.”

While this was Bowers first win, it was a long awaited win for the Rebels’ players. Bowers said following the game his players actually dumped the coolers on him.

“I’m a little drenched,” Bowers said. “It’s not something I really enjoyed, but some of the kids said it had been a long time coming.”

Zion Chapel will return home next weekend to face Highland Home in Green Memorial Stadium at 7p.m. The Flying Squadron was 2-1 for the season going into their game against Luverne Friday night.

Zion Chapel is now 1-3 for the season. Bowers said the momentum from Friday’s win could be essential in keeping the Rebels on their toes.

“A win cures a lot of things,” Bowers said. “We’ve still got one guy we’re trying to get back, so we’ve just got to get everybody back next a week.

“A win cures a lot things.”