Fresh off a convincing win a week ago over Calhoun, the Zion Chapel Rebels hit the road one final time this season when they travel to New Brockton today.

The Rebels (2-4, 2-2) still have a shot to do some damage within the region standings throughout the final few games of the season.

That path starts this evening when the Rebels face region rival New Brockton, who are 3-1 in the region.

“It’s another week where we have to prepare more mentally than we do physically,” Rebels head coach Bradley Bowers said, referring to both the game and the Thursday schedule. “We are trying to get everything in and get our game plan situated.”

The goal for the Rebels was to treat this week of practice just like any week, although Bowers said ramming four days of practice into just three was tough.

“Any time you practice you have to make all your reps count,” Bowers said. “What we had to do was try and combine Monday and Tuesday’s practice. We probably threw a lot on the guys on Monday, but we are trying to go through as many reps as we can.”

Perhaps the hardest task for Bowers and the Rebels is balancing the practice time and resting his players.

“Your body is still short a day of recovery,” Bowers said. “On Monday we banged on each other a little bit. Tuesday and Wednesday were more of light contact days.”

New Brockton comes into the contest after winning their last two games against Highland Home and Providence Christian by a combined score of 75-13. Like the Rebels they are ready to move up in the region standings.

“They are a really good football team,” Bowers said. “They will give us some problems with depth. The thing we have been stressing to ourselves is getting established early. We want to control the clock and the football and try to take the depth issue out of the equation.”

The Rebels know the importance of this game and the opportunities that come along with it.

“I think our guys know how important this game is,” Bowers said.

“It’s a county rival and our guys usually get up to play New Brockton and vice versa. I expect us to come out and play a really good football game.

The Rebels look to win back-to-back games for the first time since 2012. Kickoff between the Rebels and the Gamecocks will be at 7 p.m. at Gamecock Stadium in New Brockton.