By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@championcarolinas.com

PROSPERITY — The Mid-Carolina Rebels fell to the Saluda High School Tigers by a score of 49-21 Friday night.

The Tigers wasted no time putting points on the board — 13 seconds into the contest Zaye Bryant ran the punt return into the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point by Adrian Vasquez was good, the score 7-0.

With two and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter Bryant would find the end zone again for the Tigers — the extra point was good, the score now 14-0.

The Tigers extended their lead with six seconds left in the first quarter after a touchdown by Montrevious Baker. A successful extra point would bring the score to 21-0.

In an attempt to put points on the board, the Rebels recovered a fumble from the Tigers — the Tigers would later intercept the Rebels and a touchdown by Dallan Wright would make the score 28-0 with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter.

With five minutes on the clock before halftime, the Tigers managed to get another touchdown after Jabari Baker found his way to the end zone, the score 35-0.

Coming back from halftime, the Rebels would get on the board for the night after a touchdown from Blake Arnoult — a two point conversion by the Rebels would put the score at 35-8.

With the ball back in Tiger possession, Bryant would find the end zone again with four minutes in the third quarter — the extra point was good, the score 42-8.

Rounding out the third quarter, the Tigers recorded their final touchdown of the night with the score 49-8.

In the final quarter of the contest, Macon Arnoult would find Bryson Holland for a Rebel touchdown with eight minutes remaining — the extra point by Drew Dominick was good, the score 49-15. Arnoult would also find Connor Gray for the Rebels final touchdown of the night, resulting in the 49-21 loss.

“Saluda is a very talented team, they have people that can play all over the field. We just made way too many mistakes in the first half, got down 35 points and you can’t make one mistake against a team like them,” said Coach Chris Arnoult. “Our guys responded well in the second half — we didn’t give up which is a positive. They played real hard, but we’ve got to cut out the mistakes if we want to win some games.”

Cutting out mistakes is what Arnoult said he and the team will be doing as they prepare for Batesburg-Leesville Friday night.

“We’ll spend a lot of time this week on mistakes, correcting them and getting mentally tougher,” he said.

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.

A host of Tigers pile on top of the Rebels during Friday night’s face off.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_MCSaluda-1.jpgA host of Tigers pile on top of the Rebels during Friday night’s face off. Kelly Duncan | The Newberry Observer

By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@championcarolinas.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.