Uprising in Rebel Stadium
Originally published on October 6, 2017.
By Emma MacLeod
“I believe that we will win!” the South Albany student section yelled to the field.
However, this cheer, usually a few minutes before the end of the game was chanted before the game had even started. They had no clue how wrong they were about to be.
Senior Linebacker, Juan Diaz, silenced the crowd. The Quarterback of the rebels saw one of his receivers starting to break away from Diaz. But as soon as the ball came sailing in that direction, Diaz was there. With the ball in his hands, he made a break all the way to a Glencoe Touchdown.
After getting the extra point, Senior Kicker, Matthew Smith, had a trick up his sleeve. At kickoff, he backed up and got ready to boot the ball, at least that’s what South Albany thought.
Instead, Smith kicked the ball lightly, taking the Rebels by surprise, and jumped on it after 10 yards with no one around to stop him. Glencoe was on their feet cheering, the ball theirs again, while South Albany stood dumbfounded.
Kicks started to look like the Rebels’ kryptonite. During their fourth down, South Albany decided to play it safe and punt. Using a tee, the Rebel’s “punted” the ball to the 30-yard line straight to Senior, Defensive Back, Ruben Gallardo. As soon as the ball touched his hands he was gone in a flash, changing the scoreboard to 14–0.
The tail end of the 1st quarter was not the strongest for Glencoe’s defense. South Albany slowly moved up the field as Glencoe was penalized over and over again. Eventually, the line of scrimmage was a football length away from the end zone, and no more penalties against Glencoe could be given. With one last push, the Rebel’s shoved themselves into the end zone, ending the quarter 14–7.
The second quarter was not what South Albany wanted to see, especially on homecoming night.
Junior Quarterback, Bryce Fornshell, had his running shoes on, giving Glencoe back to back touchdowns.
If that wasn’t frustrating enough for the Rebels, Glencoe’s youngest player and only freshman, Defensive Back, Tyler Cox, made an interception of an overshot throw.
Just when South Albany´s hopes started to build back up, Gallardo sent them crashing back down. The Quarterback threw a nearly perfect spiral to a receiver close to the end zone, however, Gallardo was there. He jumped up as the receiver’s hands touched the ball and knocked it from his hands, leaving the scoreboard at 28–7.
South Albany came back onto the field after halftime ready to play catch up. Pumped and ready to go, the rebels kicked off, sending the ball hurtling towards Junior Running Back Justin Lazenby.
The ball, however, had other plans, bouncing out of Lazenby´s hands and fumbling onto the ground. The Rebel’s began to close in as he clumsily picked up the stray ball. Things looked bleak. Until he started to run.
The Junior should be thanking his lucky stars for his speed. What could have been a disaster, turned into a 99-yard touchdown.
By the end of the third quarter, the score was 35–10 as the rebels desperately attempted to hold on by scoring a single field goal.
In the fourth quarter, all that South Albany got was one more touchdown and a field goal racking up 10 more points for them.
To their dismay, Glencoe wasn’t finished.
With an interception by Senior Linebacker, Drew Messmer, the Rebels saw the light at the end of their tunnel.
The final blow to defeat the Rebels and get revenge on the blowout of last year’s homecoming for Glencoe was a short pass by Fornshell to Senior, Wide Receiver, Devon Schaumburg. This gave the Crimson Tide their last touchdown, sealing the Rebels fate and silencing the once loud student section.
I
I
I believe that
I believe that
I believe that we just won! I believe that we just won! I believe that we just won!”
The small student section of Glencoe cheered.
A victory made sweet as the once confident South Albany students awkwardly left the bleachers to their homecoming dance.
Glencoe faces McKay High School at their “Save the bees” (Black and Yellow) Home Game.
Keep Calm and Roll Tide.
