ADAMS – The Southland Rebels played almost a perfect football game in imperfect weather Friday night.

Sunday, October 03, 1999

ADAMS – The Southland Rebels played almost a perfect football game in imperfect weather Friday night. The homecoming game against the Houston Hurricanes was won by the Rebels 68-6.

"Our defense was excellent," Southland coach Dick Strand said. "The offense executed well. We did a good job on both sides of the ball. It was a very nice win."

The Rebels got things started with a bang scoring three times to make the score 18-0 after one quarter. On their first possession Cyle Erie connected with Jason Johnson on a short pass that turned into a 45-yard touchdown run.

Houston then fumbled on its first possession and the Rebels recovered at their 46. A couple of plays later they were in the end zone again on a 40-yard dash by Todd Osmundson. He bounced outside around the left end. Southland then forced another Houston fumble on a sack by Dustin Wiste. Kevin Snyder made the recovery at the Houston 15. Erie once again connected with Johnson for the score. This time it was from 22 yards out.

Houston held on to the ball long enough to punt it away on its third possession. A big Rebels return was nullified due to a penalty, but that didn’t stop the Rebels from rumbling down the field. At the 9:43 mark of the second quarter, Adam Chapek ran it in from 3 yards out. Osmundson ran in the conversion on a reverse to make it 26-0.

The Rebels defense again came up big when they stuffed a Hurricane rush attempt on fourth-and-inches to get the ball back to its explosive offense at the Houston 34 yard line. Brent Mees hit pay dirt when he caught a tipped 25-yard strike at the goal line. The touchdown was nullified, however, on a holding penalty. It only stopped the Rebels for moments as Osmundson went for 16-yards on a rush on the next play. Then on third-and-10 at the 11, Chapek rambled in for the score to make it 32-0.

A botched snap on the conversion attempt went to kicker Syd Schramm who for the second time this year recorded a two-point conversion pass when he threw to Johnson. Johnson broke a tackle at the goal line for the score. At the half it was Southland 34, Houston 0.

Houston has had a tough year. They have lost almost their entire starting defensive unit do to injury and have not won a game this year.

The Rebels went on a 78-yard, 10-play drive after stopping Houston at the beginning of the second half. Chapek went 19 yards for the score on a sweep around the right end. He added two more points to the scoreboard on a sweep around the left end to make it 42-0. Chapek rushed for 154 yards in the game, Osmundson 81, and Johnson piled up 67 receiving yards.

The Rebels defense then had their one lapse of the game when Houston scored on a 70-yard screen pass at the 4:39 mark. It was the first time the Rebels had been scored upon at home. It took Southland’s opponents 127 minutes and 21 seconds to score on Rebel soil.

Coach Strand responded by putting his first unit out one more time. Chapek had a 32-yard rush to set up the Rebels next touchdown. The honors this time went to the Southland B-squad. Mike Sorg put the six points on the board on a 12-yard run up the middle. The B-squad kept the steamroller going by scoring three more six-pointers in the fourth quarter and a two-point conversion.

"Our B-squad played well, too well," Southland defensive coach Bill Feuchtenberger said.

After a Houston fumble the Rebels scored again on a 3-yard run by Jared Gilles, Craig Weis then ran it in for two more. Adam Nagele then made two long touchdown runs from 20 and 42 yards out.

Southland (3-2, 2-2 in the Southeast Conference) is on the Rand at Fillmore Central next week. Fillmore is unbeaten along with Rushford-Peterson in conference play.

Houston 0 0 6 0 – 6

Southland 18 16 14 20 – 68