The Fannin County Rebels loaded the bus and took off for Rome, Georgia, to take on the Model Blue Devils in a Region 7-AA football matchup Friday, October 15, looking to stay undefeated in region play and set themselves up for another region title run in 2021.
The Rebels scored on their first two possessions and, as it turned out, that would be all they needed, cruising to a 35-7 win over the Blue Devils.
Model won the toss and elected to take the football. The Blue Devils started at their own 27 after a booming kickoff by Jack Kantner. After picking up two first downs, Model went for it on fourth down and three from the Rebel 43, but Nate Maloof recovered a fumble on the play, ending the drive. Fannin took over in great field position at the Blue Devil 47-yard line.
Quarterback Seth Reece hit Bryson Holloway for a nice gain and then Cason Owensby powered his way down to the 14-yard line to get Fannin into scoring position. On third down, Reece connected with Cade Sands in the corner of the end zone as Sands did some great footwork to stay in bounds for the first touchdown of the night. After the Kantner extra point, the Rebels led 7-0 with 6:44 to go in the opening quarter.
Kantner sailed another kickoff to the goal line, but it was returned to the 29-yard line, where the Blue Devils would start their second drive. Fannin County’s defense bowed its neck and forced a three and out.
Corbin Davenport returned the punt to the Model 49-yard line to set up the Rebels’ next drive.
Reece and Sands hooked up again for 14 yards, but a costly penalty moved Fannin all the way back to the Fannin 37-yard line. Reece got much of the lost yardage back as he found Carson Collis for a gain of 16 yards. Reece then plowed his way down the left sideline for a 20 yard gain.
On fourth down and two, Owensby picked up seven yards to get the ball down to the Blue Devil 21-yard line. The bruising Reece called his own number again, this time running the ball down to the Model eight-yard line. After two penalties against the Rebels, and on third and goal from the 17, Reece zipped a pass to Hayden Lynch on a slant route for Fannin’s second touchdown on the night. Kantner drilled the extra point to extend Fannin’s lead to 14-0 with 1:29 left in the first quarter.
The Rebels attempted an onside kick, but Model made a nice play to recover the football and grab some good field position of their own, starting at midfield. The Rebel defense, again, stopped the Blue Devils on third down, forcing another punt that rolled dead at the Fannin 9-yard line as the first quarter came to a close.
Owensby got the drive started with a 25-yard reception from Reece on the first play of the second quarter. On fourth and two yards to go, Reece, again, bulled his way for ten yards to keep the drive alive. The Rebels faced another fourth and short, but Owensby converted the first down with a seven yard run to the Model 31 yard line. After a penalty against Fannin County, Austin Garland sprinted for 20 yards and Reece hit Bryson Holloway down to the Model 17 yard line. Another penalty moved the ball back to the 31-yard line, and Model’s defense made a big play by sacking Reece back at the 37. Kantner came on to punt and pinned the Blue Devils at the 2-yard line after the ball was downed by Bryson Holloway.
On the first snap, Fannin’s defense came up with a huge play, as Sands recovered a Model fumble at the 3-yard line.
Reece took advantage of the turnover as he busted into the end zone to increase the Fannin lead to 20-0. Kantner converted the extra point to give Fannin County a commanding 21-0 lead with 6:56 left before halftime.
A penalty on the Blue Devils backed them up at their 5-yard line to begin the drive. A nice pitch and catch moved the ball out to the Model 43, but the Blue Devils were forced to punt after an incomplete pass on third down.
The two teams swapped punts right before halftime and Fannin took over at the Model 48-yard line.
On second down, Model came up with another big play as they intercepted a pass and raced down to the Fannin 2-yard line with a little over a minute to go in the half. On the second play of the drive, Model got on the scoreboard with 22 seconds left to cut the deficit to 21-7 at halftime.
Fannin County received the second-half kickoff and Corbin Davenport returned it out to the Rebel 34-yard line. Owensby started the drive with a nice 12- yard run to the 46. Back to back
The penalties forced a Rebel punt with under ten minutes to go in the quarter. The Rebel defense, led by Logan Long and Jeremy Tammen, stuffed the Devils and forced yet another punt.
A penalty killed the drive and forced Fannin into another punt of their own.
Model would have to punt again, and this time, the Fannin special teams came up with a huge play as Owensby crashed through and blocked the punt at the Model 30 yard line and Taylor Collis fell on the loose ball at the 11-yard line, setting up the Rebels with a chance to blow the game open.
Quarterback David Mashburn sprinted down to the three-yard line as the third quarter came to a close with Fannin in the lead 21-7.
On the first play of the fourth period, Garland bolted into the end zone for another Fannin touchdown and another Kantner extra point increased the lead to 28-7.
On the kickoff, a nice return, plus a penalty against the Rebels, gave Model great field position at the Fannin 32 yard line. The Blue Devils tried some trickery on third down, but Andrew Waldrep busted through and jarred the ball loose and it was scooped up by Carson Collis.
The Rebel offense took over on their own 49 looking to put the game out of reach. Mashburn hit Lynch down to the Blue Devil 37 yard line and then called his own number as he carried the ball to the 28. On fourth down from the 14, Mashburn capped the scoring on the night for the Rebels as he darted around left end for a touchdown to give Fannin a 35-7 lead, after the Kantner extra point, with 6:03 left in the ballgame.
Fannin County’s defense came up with yet another big play, recovering a Blue Devil fumble at the Model 23 yard line. The model got the ball back on an interception, but couldn’t get anything going on offense, and the Rebels came back to Blue Ridge with a big region win by the score of 35-7.
Reece finished the night with 12 completions for 129 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 68 yards on the ground and another touchdown. Mashburn was four out of six for 26 yards and also had 32 yards rushing with a touchdown. Owensby added 57 yards rushing and Garland finished the game with 48 yards and a touchdown. Lynch caught three passes for 37 yards with a touchdown reception and Sands had two catches for 33 yards and a score. Carson Collis also had two catches for 24 yards. Bryson Holloway caught three balls for 23 yards.
On defense, Sands and Waldrep each had ten total stops and five tackles for loss between them. Waldrep had two forced fumbles. Owensby was in on nine tackles and had two tackles for loss. He also blocked a punt. Long collected five stops to go with two more tackles for loss and quarterback pressure. Nate Maloof had four tackles and a fumble recovery. Tammen had three tackles plus two tackles for loss, while Case Holloway, Rico Arellanes, Bryson Fink, Levi Cochran, and Jacob Dyer all had a stop each. Reece had three assists and Jason Pearson finished with four tackles and an assist. Bryson Holloway collected two tackles and Carson Collis had two stops to go with two pass breakups and a fumble recovery. Kantner had a good night on special teams, as he was 5-5 on PAT’s, a touchback, and he had four punts for a 37-yard average, with two of those downed inside the 20-yard line.
The Rebels will be back in action next week at home, as they welcome the Chattoogach Indians for homecoming. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM.