The Rebels were on the road this week with a short jog down the 401 into Gargoyle territory. A lot was on the minds of the Rebels going into this one with Finals just around the corner. It could have been anxiousness about the ladder positioning, Rogers TV on site to record the game, who was going to bring the footies, or for some, which speedo was Papsy going to choose for the pool party afterwards? The Rebels were up an about from the moment arriving to the field, with supporters in tow, they probably outnumbered the population of the city of Guelph. Feels good to be a Rebel. The Rebels took to the ground just as the cricket team finished up some exhilarating play, and with cameras rolling, Saturday Footy was underway.

As usual, Scuba lost the toss, and with a poorly landscaped ground, the Rebels found themselves starting off going uphill and against the wind. Turns out the boys love a challenge. With Browny’s focus in the gym now being box jumps, he made an immediate statement on the first bounce and every one thereafter winning the taps only to be crumbed up by Baden, Digga and again rookie standout Steve-O! The Rebels pushed forward with high intensity, muscles flexed for the cameras, and solid structure to dominate each contest. Any footy that did happen to find its way even remotely past half into the Rebels end was hammered back by a solid half back line in Philthy Scuba and Hegs. With zero action inside 50, Dre decided to catch up on his reading and Kerm from Guelph and Frog thought up ways to market their nicknames….. nothing came to mind. The dominating play left the rebels on top after the first quarter

Rebels: 6.2-38
Guelph 1.0.-6

With Coach Bods splitting hairs to find something that went wrong that quarter, the boys were feeling pretty good about themselves. Surely another win in the cards for them on the day however it was only the second quarter. Chests puffed out and a little bit of swagger saw the Rebels lift the foot off the gas and Guelph was able to capitalize. This time kicking 3 in the quarter with the Rebels kicking a consistent 6. Strangely enough, Guelph seemed to enjoy the unfavourable conditions this quarter whereas the Rebels should have had it easy going down wind and down hill. Surely the Rebels weren’t going to drop what was seemingly turning out to be sure thing were they?

Rebels: 12.4 - 76
Guelph: 4.1 - 25

The Third Quarter saw the boys in black and white turn it up once again taking 6 scoring shots to 2 in which half were goals for the Rebels and both were goals for Guelph. If there was one thing Guelph was enjoying, it was a high percentage in goal kicking from scoring shots. Ash was enjoying his time up in the forward line and similar to the game before the break, he treated the ball like a yo-yo taking on several of the opposition inside 50 before kicking a few himself. Duffy became a solid target in the pocket almost uncontested every time with a solid grasp on the footy.

Rebels: 15.7 - 97
Guelph: 6.1 - 37

As the siren went for the final term, the Rebels were looking to close the books on this contest and head off the the pool party. In fact the Rebels were so excited they had their most productive scoring quarter of the game with 11 chance to Guelph’s 5. The final term also saw a shake up in the team, with Scuba getting a run in the middle, new recruit Trent getting a few more touches in the ruck, Philthy nursing a boo boo on the sidelines offering up some much deserved game time to Cieplik as he and Hegs along with Howes manned the Half back line. Kerm and Frog also enjoyed a bit more action in contesting for the ball inside 50, the most work Frogger had all day! As the final siren went, and the Rebels song was sung, 4 more points will now keep the Rebels up top on the ladder and help in the push for a prime spot in Finals Footy in September. Final score:

Rebels: 21.12 - 138
Guelph: 10.1 - 61

Next up for the Rebels in the meantime is the Dees on Saturday @ 10am!