PROSPERITY — Whitmire finally breaks a 22-year long losing streak as they upset Mid-Carolina on the road 8-7 in a hard fought defensive battle. The Wolverines traveled to Lon Armstrong Stadium and took care of business with a resilient second half performance.

The Rebels started the game off by scoring on the first drive with a nine-yard touchdown run by Zylan Agnew, who missed the previous two games with a sprained ankle. The Wolverines were stalled on their first drive that ended with a third down sack by Rebels’ linebacker Keshon Williams.

The Wolverines offense struggled the whole first half and their dominate run game was slow down but their defense came to play.

Early in the second quarter, the Rebels drove the ball right down and threatened to score before Wolverines’ two-way star Kayshaun Schumpret intercepted a pass on the two-yard line to shift momentum. Unfortunately, they couldn’t turn the turnover into points.

The Rebels took a 7-0 lead into halftime.

The Wolverines answered with a long nine-minute drive in the third quarter that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Blake Stribble on a quarterback keeper. Stribble then found Ashton Nelson for the two-point conversation on a quarterback bootleg to the right.

The Rebels offense stalled in the second half and they could barely move the ball pass the 50-yard line.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Rebels defense stole momentum after they forced a fumble by Stribble on the three-yard line to stop the Wolverines from potentially punching the ball in the end zone and possibly putting the game out of reach.

Despite regaining momentum, the Rebels’ offense still couldn’t get anything going late in the game. They were stopped on an attempted fourth down prayer by their quarterback Daniel Long, who bought extra time by scrambling outside of the pocket.

Both teams combined for over 20 plus penalties. Wolverines head coach Andrew Campbell said he was on the seventh grade the last time Whitmire beat Mid-Carolina.

“It’s huge man. For the longest time Mid-Carolina has had our number, for 22 years. I was in the seventh grade the last time we beat Mid-Carolina,” said Campbell. “That was in 2001 and we beat them here. I told them at the beginning of the week its a chance to break a streak. Just the will, effort, and its just huge for the community. I can’t even begin to express it right now, it’s unreal.”

The Wolverines will move to 2-1 on the season and will face Eau Claire at home on next Friday, Sept. 8. The Rebels fall to 0-3 and will again try to get their first win of the season on next Friday when they hit the road to take on Ninety-Six.

“I got to make them a believer is what I got to do. I’ve been in this situation myself at the college level. We started 1-3 and ran the table to win a national championship. So, I am not too worried about that right now. Coaches got to coach and players gone have to play,” said Rebels head coach Chris Arnoult.

For the full recap, please read the print edition on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

Reach Greg Hollis @ 803-768-3117 or on Twitter @TheNBONews