After opening the District 1E portion of their schedule with last Friday’s 44-28 road decision over Marvell (AR) Academy, the North Sunflower Academy Rebels take another week off from action due to an open date.
Now owning a 3-0 record and ranked No. 2 among all Eight Man football teams per Mississippi Gridiron Magazine, Head Coach Michael Ward saw his Rebels break open a deadlocked 22-22 contest after three periods of play with 22 fourth period points to escape Arkansas with last Friday’s victory.
“We started the game really flat,” said Ward “But we began to win the line of scrimmage in the second half of the game.” With an open date now on their agenda, Ward and his staff will use the down time to prepare for their Sept. 22 road trip to Calhoun Academy.
Coincidentally, those 3-1 Calhoun Academy Cougars also have an open date this week and will no doubt use it wisely to prepare for the NSA squad in what promises to be a high-scoring contest.
In last Friday’s win over Marvell Academy, the Rebels found themselves down by a 14-8 margin after the first quarter of play. NSA used a big play to open their scoring in the game as Austen Redwine peeled off an 85-yard run to the end zone.
The senior then followed with a two point conversion plunge to account for NSA’s initial points.
Despite scoring again in the second quarter on a Jacolby Brown six-yard touchdown run and subsequent two point conversion, the Rebels still went to the dressing room at halftime down by a 22-16 score.
The Rebels would knot the game at 22 apiece with the third frame’s only score after Redwine crashed in from seven yards out; just as significant was the NSA defense which stiffened and ultimately allowed only a late-fourth quarter touchdown pass by the Eagles.
With the aforementioned NSA offensive line leading the way, the Rebels took the lead in the fourth frame when Brown plunged in from five yards out for the touchdown.
Not finished, the Rebels added to their lead moments later when Bennett Boykin found the endzone from 39 yards out and with Redwine providing a two point conversion run, the Rebels were up by a 38-22 margin.
Patrick Boykin then more than sealed the game when his pass interception turned into an 87-yard run to paydirt; after which the Eagles scored their final touchdown to take the score to its final point total.
Offensively, the Rebels amassed 351 rushing yards and Redwine paced NSA’s ground game as he picked up 160 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
Following close behind was Bennett Boykin, whose 18 rushes accumulated another 141 yards of offense.
Through the air Brown completed three of his four pass attempts for 51 yards with Jaden Patterson (28 yards) and Bennett Boykin (15 yards) catching one pass apiece.
Defensively, the Rebels limited the Eagles to 196 total yards of offense, with 187 of those yards earned on the ground.
