The Rebel defense rose the occasion as the Southland football team snuck past Lewiston/Altura with a 19-13 overtime win on the road Friday.

Southland head coach Shawn Kennedy had faith in his squad before they even tossed the coin before overtime.

“The kids told me if we win the toss, we’re going on defense and we’re going to win the game,” he said. “That was some strong senior leadership and I felt good about that.”

The Rebels (1-0 overall) delivered on their promise as they stopped the Cardinals (0-1 overall) on a fourth and three on the first possession of OT.

Then they took over at the Cardinal 10-yard line and used two Henry Mullenbach runs to get in the end zone and win it.

“We stepped up when we needed to. Lewiston/Altura is big and fast and they’re a great team. That’s the best team I’ve seen them put on the field since I got to Southland,” Kennedy said.

Southland had led 13-6 at halftime and they were moving the ball to open the second half. But they lost a fumble on the L/A three-yard line and the Cardinals responded by driving 97 yards to tie the game.

In all, Southland lost three fumbles and allowed 399 rushing yards to L/A. The Rebels, who had nine penalties, had 310 yards of total offense.

“We’ve got some things to work on,” Kennedy said. “We had too many penalties and we were undisciplined on defense.”

STATS

Southland rushing: Henry Mullenbach, 12-for-67, 2 TD; Ben Wolterman, 8-for-26; David Schotanus, 5-for-22; Tyler Kressin, 2-for-4; Jeff Schlichter, 1-for-1; Sam Noterman 10-for-(-23)

Southland passing: Alan May, 7-for-147, TD; Chris May, 1-for-34; Wolterman, 1-for-25; Zach Heimer, 1-for-8