Sports - October 2003

Rebels record their first conference win

Published October 6, 2003

Freshman Woodie shows leadership as West Lincoln beats Newton-Conover 27-18

By JONATHAN SCRONCE and RICK MITCHEM, Correspondents

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The West Lincoln Rebels got their first win of the season Friday night at Douglas Leonhardt Memorial Stadium in a 27-18 defeat of Newton-Conover.

On homecoming night, the Rebels scored 21 first half points on two-yard touchdown runs by Will Tallent, Taylor Woodie, and Paul Chambers.

The Rebels forced three Red Devil turnovers in the first half and capitalized on all of them. All three of the turnovers were fumbles, and left the Rebels with excellent field position.

West Lincoln was able to take advantage of the short field and take a commanding three-touchdown lead into the locker room at the half.

The second half didn’t start as well for the Rebels as the first. On West Lincoln’s first play of the third quarter, the Red Devils forced a fumble and recovered it at the Rebel 13-yard line. Dusty Wright scored on the first play following the turnover to pull Newton-Conover to 21-6.

Late in the third quarter, West Lincoln regained its three-touchdown advantage when the Red Devils muffed a punt.

The Rebels recovered it at the Newton-Conover 11-yard line. Seven plays later, Chambers scored his second touchdown of the night, this time a one-yard run. After the extra point was blocked, the Rebel’s lead was 27-6.

The Red Devils added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to close the gap to nine, but that was as close as they could get. The last Newton-Conover score came with 52 seconds to play but the Rebels had sealed their first win of the season.

Will Tallent was the workhorse in the Rebel backfield, carrying 25 times for 60 yards. Taylor Woodie continued to show improvement at the quarterback position, completing four passes for 75 yards, and running for 28 yards on 13 carries. Paul Chambers was again the short yardage specialist, scoring touchdown runs of one and two yards.

 The West Lincoln defense was led by Josh Scronce who had five sacks in the game, and a blocked kick.

“He’s been a kick block specialist for us all year”, said Rebel head coach Butch Parker.

Parker was also pleased with the Rebels’ defensive effort.

“We knew the defense could be good and they worked hard at it, and they got there,” Parker said.

The Rebels’ special teams showed much improvement over last week. Punter Robert Jarrett averaged 33 yards on five punts, and Michael Finger was three for four on extra point attempts and had one kickoff go into the end zone.

The win was the Rebels first Midwest 2A conference victory in the league’s three year history. It was also West Lincoln’s first ever win over Newton-Conover.

Parker was happy for his kids.

“I’m proud for our kids because they deserve something like this,” he said.

Sheena Simpson was named Homecoming Queen at halftime of the Rebel victory.

The Rebels travel to Shelby this Friday to take on the Golden Lions. The Red Devils will host Lincolnton.  

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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