By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

McKenzie Middle School coach Brad Chappell warned his Rebel football team before it took on Medina in the 2007 mckenzierebels.com Bowl Tuesday night that a big play in the special teams may be the difference in the game.

On the game's opening play, Medina return specialist Carlos Walden, a seventh grader, took the kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown. His score gave Medina a quick 6-0 lead and set the table for an 18-12 victory over unbeaten McKenzie.

Chappell may want to join the Psychic Network Hotline. One could surmise he would have rather picked the Powerball numbers. Walden, who has McKenzie roots, gave his team a boost and McKenzie spent the remaining 31:43 chasing the Hornets.

"I hated to spot them six right out of the gate," said MMS coach Brad Chappell. "That sort of set the tone."

The Rebels actually outgained Medina 219-155 and held the ball almost 20 minutes. The Hornets bent but didn't break and spread their offense enough out to alter McKenzie's scheme.

"We went to the spread game and I don't think they were expecting that," said Medina coach Heath Moore. "We spread them out and we got some yards out of that."

But the Hornets were successful through the air. Avery Phillips, who was the Medina offensive player of the game, set bowl-records with three catches for 70 yards and two TDs. His last score was insurance without Medina knowing it. It came on a fourth-down play with 3:17 remaining in the fourth. He went up for a 10-yard catch in the back left corner of the end zone. Medina led 18-6 to that point.

"Phillips played huge. He made some great catches and really concentrated on the football," said Moore. "And they had good coverage on him. It was a jumpball everytime."

McKenzie came right back with a seven-play, 70-yard drive, ending in a 7-yard TD pass to Jess Twyman with 47.7 seconds left. That drew the Rebels within six, 18-12 after the conversion attempt failed. McKenzie attempted an onside kick which was scooped up by Medina. They ran out the clock from there.

"You know, if they'd have gotten that onside kick, who knows?" Moore said. "McKenzie has a good team and they fought to the end."

"We were more consistent in the second half," said Chappell. "We tried to keep their defense on the field and we were physical. Medina is a good team and we showed a lot of character to make it close at the end."

Medina had a goal of limiting McKenzie's feature back Colin Vinson. He had to scratch and claw for every one of his 27 yards on nine carries. One could see the smoldering frustration in Vinson much of the night.

"We knew they had a power game and we had to try to stop Vinson," said Moore. "Our defense did a good job of shutting him down."

And in the process, the Rebels had to find offense elsewhere. And they did. Robertson completed 3-of-5 passes for 53 yards and a score. Storme Hilliard was 2-3 for 38 yards. Twyman had two catches for 38 yards, Michael Chadwick had two for 32 and Miguel Calderon had one for 21. On the ground, Robertson, McKenzie's offensive MVP, had six carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. He was one of six runners to touch the ball for McKenzie.

"Vinson is our stud and everybody knows that and we tried to get it in as many hands as we could," said Chappell. "You don't want it to be quite like that on offense, but Vinson is our stud for a reason because he's pretty dadgum good."

Medina may not have gotten a lot of yards Tuesday night, but it did control the tempo. After scoring on the opening kick, McKenzie seemed to be shellshocked and couldn't find consistency on offense. During the Rebels second possession, a controversial fumble call deep in McKenzie turf resulted in a Medina TD. The Hornets tried to help MMS out as much as possible with a pair of penalties totaling 15 yards. The Hornets were on the 25 but found themselves back to the 41. Keel's run to the 27 set up the first of two fourth-down conversion passes for TDs. Keel hit Phillips for a 27-yard strike with 3:06 to play in the second quarter. The conversion pass failed.

McKenzie's Hilliard and Medina's Walden traded interceptions and the Hornets led 12-0 at the break.

The Rebels had chances in the third frame. They got the ball to start the second half and marched 43 yards down to the Hornet 20 when a 4-yard loss camped the Rebels at the 24 with a fourth-and-long play. They couldn't convert and a red-zone chance went by the boards. But the positive by-product was field position.

The Rebels straddled the third and fourth quarters with a drive. They drove 43 yards in seven plays ending in Robertson's 2-yard plunge, setting up the crazy finish, the second such crazy finish in as many bowl games.

"We fought hard and I sure would have liked to have won," said Chappell. "If we had played our best game, I'd have felt better, but I don't take anything away from Medina. They have a good team."

Keel carried seven times for 39 yards to lead the Hornets. He also had nine tackles and was named Medina's defensive player of the game. Keanu Davis had five totes for 17 yards. Pedigo Hanks had one catch for nine yards.

Matt Eaton had five tackles to lead the Rebels and was named McKenzie's defensive player of the game. Vinson also had five tackles. Robertson and Twyman each had pass break-ups.

Medina, 6-0, hosts the Sharon Eagles Thursday night then plays at Gibson County High School in the Pioneer Bowl against University School of Jackson.

McKenzie finishes the season 8-1, won the county championship for the third straight year and earned a bowl invitation for the third straight year. In three years, the McKenzie Middle School Rebels have posted a 22-5 record.