Rebels win on late score
Published 12:22 am Saturday, September 24, 2011
Zion Chapel head coach Mike Waters mentioned before the season that he would know a lot about his team by the end of week five.
Well week five is in the books and Waters summed up his assement of the first half of the Rebel year as simple as one could, “We’re ready.”
The Zion Chapel Rebels picked up their first win over the cross-county rival Kinston Bulldogs since 2008, in a nail biter 12-6.
Both offenses found it tough to move the ball consistently, as neither team scored until the Rebels put together a scoring drive late in the 2nd quarter.
Zion gave the Bulldogs a steady dose of bruising Dustin Riggsbee rushes until the time came to go to the air.
Quarterback LaMarcus Adair bootlegged to his right on a second down play and appeared to be headed for a sack.
Adair shook one tackler, stepped up in the pocket, and fired back across the field to a wide open Mickey Cox for the first score by either squad with just a few seconds remaining before the half.
A fired up Kinston defense came out fired up and ready to play in the second half of the annual rivalry game.
The Bulldog defense forced two fumbles and two punts on Zion’s first four second half poseesions, and turned one the fumbles in to a touchdown drive that tied the game at six midway through the third quarter.
That touchdown would be all that the home standing Bulldogs would get against the tough Rebel defense.
Terry Flowers led the Rebel D with six tackles including a sack, that resulted in a loss of 15 yards.
“Our guys played hard for the third week in a row” said Bradley Bowers, Rebel defensive coordinator. “All you can ask of them is to play hard and limit mistakes.”
The deciding score of the contest came late in the fourth quarter.
Adair found running room on a busted play and was able to weave in and out of tacklers on his way to the house for a 30 yard TD romp.
“It’s great to have an athletic guy like LaMarcus out there” said Waters. “He can do some special things in space and is real weapon and he is only a sophomore.”
Zion Chapel was flagged 18 times for penalties in what Waters said were “questionable” calls.
When asked how the Rebels would cut down on penalties the Zion Chapel head man responded “by not having Enterprise officials anymore.”
Zion Chapel returns home to the friendly confines of Greene Memorial Stadium this Friday for another cross-country matchup. Friday’s game against the New Brockton Gamecocks will be Homecoming for the Rebels and is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff in Jack.