PROSPERITY — The Mid-Carolina Rebels fell to the Batesburg-Leesville Panthers 38-20 in Friday’s game.
The Rebels scored the first touchdown of the game on a 33-yard pass to Junior Cade Ruff with six minutes left in the quarter. The Panthers retaliated with a 20-yard touchdown pass, tying the game in the first quarter.
The Rebels continued to fight but were faced with another challenge when senior quarterback Corey Stone injured himself and was put out for the rest of the game. He received seven stitches on his left hand after the snap over his head on the punt.
Coach Louie Alexander had to move Ruff from wide receiver to quarterback for the rest of the game.
Alexander said the team has issues with facing adversity and will not get better as a team until that is handled.
“We’ve got to clean up our own mistakes, that’s the biggest thing. We’re making far too many mistakes up front on both sides of the ball and we’re not going to be very good until we clean up our own stuff,” Alexander said.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Rebels kept the game close with a tie score of 13-13. After a fumble recovery by the Panthers turned into a touchdown, the Rebels began to have more turnovers than usual.
“We’re worried about what everyone else does and not doing our own job, and that’s what we’re really going to focus on doing this week,” Alexander said.
The Panthers scored two times in the second quarter entering into the third quarter with the score of 27-13. The defensive team began to fight back as junior Mason Hawkins made a big play, sacking the quarterback on their 35-yard line giving them a fourth down.
The Panthers came back, after catching an interception resulting in another touchdown, making the score 33-13 with more than six minutes left in the quarter. The Rebels kept fighting as they retained the Panthers at their goal line forcing them to attempt a field goal. The kick was good, making the score 36-13.
The Rebels kept the Panthers out of the end zone for most of the half until the Panthers scored two points for a safety with three minutes left in the game. When the Rebels got the ball back, sophomore Dee Wise ran the field with only 28 seconds left on the clock to score one last touchdown.
Alexander said he had key players who fought hard and continued to fight throughout the game.
“Devonta Wheeler, BJ Tobe, and Greg Wright did a good job tonight but there are still things we need to work on as a team,” he said.
Alexander said practice this week will be about fixing mistakes and focusing on what the team needs to do rather than what they need to watch out for in this week’s game against Ninety Six.
“The biggest thing for us is fixing our own mistakes and trying to defeat the demons that we have ourselves,” Alexander said.