By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

Roger Federer has won Wimbledon five straight times. That hadn't been done since 1980 when Bjorn Borg accomplished that feat.

What does that have to do with McKenzie's 22-12 middle school football victory over Huntingdon Tuesday night? Very little except to draw a parallel. The victory over the visiting Mustangs was the Rebels' third in a row and it's been a long time since any McKenzie football team has beaten Huntingdon three straight times.

Tuesday night, McKenzie was not at its best, which often spells doom when it plays Huntingdon, but the Rebels persevered, fought off adversity and rallied to knock off the Mustangs.

Rebel coach Brad Chappell seemed visibly relieved after the final horn sounded.

"We didn't play our best and we still beat Huntingdon," said Chappell. "I was proud of that."

The Rebels had three miscues, one that led directly to the first Mustang score in three years against McKenzie to tie the game. Then the Mustangs took a 12-6 lead when Huntingdon's Chris Ford rambled 81 yards for the go-ahead touchdown to start the second half.

Having blanked Huntingdon 48-0 the past two years, Chappell was worried his team might get shell shocked.

"That's the thing with these kids; they haven't lost to Huntingdon or been scored upon so I wondered how we'd respond," said Chappell. "Then they had that kickoff return."

But the turning point in the game was the Rebels' 10-play, 65-yard drive that ate up 5:43 of the third-quarter clock and surged MMS back in front. On a fourth-and-play, Vinson blasted up the middle and would not be denied. His score knotted the game, then Luke Robertson sprinted around the right side for the two-pointer and the Rebels led 14-12.

After that, Huntingdon snapped the ball a scant nine times and never moved the chains the rest of the way. McKenzie added an insurance score when Robertson capped a seven-play, 67-yard drive with a 35-yard burst through the line for the final score. He hit Michael Curry for the deuce and all that stood between the Rebs and their third straight victory over the Mustangs was :27 seconds.

"We took that drive and marched right downt he field, got the two which was huge," said Chappell, "then the defense took over. I was pleased with the way we responded."

First-year Huntingdon coach Paul Carroll, a former McKenzie standout, was impressed with the Rebels' resolve.

"McKenzie's middle school and high school programs are at a high level right now," said Carroll. "You saw one of the better middle school programs tonight and it was good for us to be able to play them down to the wire."

The Rebels sputtered to start the game, but still managed to take the lead. After two turnovers, McKenzie pieced together a five-play, 56-yard drive that took 1:27, ending in a 3-yard counter run by Jess Twyman. The try for two failed, but the Rebels had scored 54 points without reply on the Mustangs.

A muffed punt snap by McKenzie landed the Mustangs on the Rebel 26. Eight plays later, the Mustangs did what they hadn't been able to do in 79 minutes and 31 seconds of elapsed game time against McKenzie: break the plane. Tyler Warbritton scored from the 1 with :29 left in the half. The conversion pass failed, but the score was tied at 6 going into the break. Then Ford's 81-yard kickoff return to start the second half seemed to give the Mustangs some momentum.

"We played a lot better tonight, but not as well as we should have," Carroll said. "The thing about Huntingdon is that we have 30 eighth graders and 30 seventh graders every year and I have a bunch of eighth graders who haven't played much before and our kids don't know how to hold a lead yet."

"Huntingdon has a pretty good football team, but we do too," said Chappell. "We still have a lot of stuff to work out."

The Rebels, 2-0, 1-0 in county play, has a dangerous opponent in Greenfield Thursday night. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Rebel Field. The Yellow Jackets upset the Rebels 12-8 at Harris Field last year.