One touchdown was enough for the Zion Chapel Rebel defense to secure a 7-0 win over Kinston on homecoming.

Both teams went scoreless in the first half. The only score came early in the third quarter when Rebels quarterback Aaron Senn connected with receiver Tanner Paquin on a 40-yard touchdown strike.

“These guys beat us the last four years and they beat us last year 52-0,” said Rebels head coach Bubba Nall. “Our defense just played tonight. That was the best our defense has looked around here in a long time.”

The Rebels defense did a little bit of everything on Friday night according to Nall. They created turnovers and stepped up and made stops when needed.

“We were able to get several turnovers,” Nall said. “Even when our offense put our defense in a tough situation, we were able to bow up and keep them out of the end zone.”

Kinston was able to get the ball in the red zone against the Rebels on a handful of occasions, but each time the defense came up with the stop.

One of the goals for the Rebels was to keep senior running back Alexander Turner out of the end zone and they did that Friday night.

“He had a couple of runs,” Nall said. “We kept him bottled up enough to where we were able to win the ball game.”

With the win the Rebels improve to 2-3 on the season.

“I am proud for our football team,” Nall said. “Often times the way you turn around your program is through your defense and that is what we are doing. We have one senior on that side of the ball sometimes two and those guys are doing a great job.”

The Rebels travel to Goshen on Friday. Kickoff is 7 p.m.