It was a tale of two halves for the W.R. Myers football team with its First Annual Cornfest Classic Rebels Football Game last Friday.
Down 31-7 at half-time, the Rebels were able to close it to 31-21 but could get no closer in a loss to McCoy at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park.
“The biggest thing was they didn’t score in the second half, which was huge. It was difficult making adjustments in the first half because many of the players we needed to discuss adjustments with didn’t come out of the game. They were in for pretty much the whole first half,” said Matt Williams, head coach of the W.R. Myers Rebels football team.
“Once we reached half-time they were able to come in and we talked about it as a unit as a whole team. It was a little bit of inexperience and not being able to make the adjustment.”
Those adjustments were to stop McCoy running a counter reverse at will, as they cracked hard on the Rebels’ defensive ends, which allowed McCoy ball carriers to bounce it to the outside.
“It was a just a matter of getting them (the defensive ends) upfield and turning the play inside, which they did a great job of in the second half,” said Williams. “We were also able to make some adjustments offensively, where the whole first half they had eight guys in the box and were plugging up the middle and we were trying to feel them out. In the second half we opened it up a bit more running to the outside and we were quite a bit more successful.”
The Rebels were also more successful in playing a tighter second half overall. Flags were flying on W.R. Myers on both sides of the ball, as the team was unable to get any sort of rhythm going in the shaky first half, which also featured numerous turnovers by the home team.
“We didn’t have as many penalties in the second half and we took care of the ball a lot better. We fumbled the ball quite a lot in the first half,” said Williams. “It’s pretty tough when you give them the ball on our 15-yard line. We also had pretty bad field position in the first half, which made it tough too.”
Trevor Marsden scored two of the Rebels’ three majors, and Ashton Shimbashi scored the third. It was a good preamble for seeing what talent the Rebels possessed as the team gets ready to travel to Canmore on Saturday.
“We definitely have things to build on and we as coaches are getting together (Monday) to break down the game tape. We definitely found out where through evaluations where players will be most effective,” said Williams. “We found that out with a few key players and we also got some experience in for new players.”
The W.R. Myers Rebels football team will play its first Southern Alberta High School Football League game for 2010 on Sept. 10 in an interlocking tilt against Catholic Central Cougars on the road.