Once the vaunted offense of the Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels got started, there was nothing Braham could do to stop them on Thursday night. The Rebels rolled up tons of yardage on the ground and pounded out an impressive 48-16 win over the Bombers in Willow River.
Nate Zuk scored on a 20-yard touchdown run for the Rebels in the first quarter, but that was all the scoring either team could muster in the first stanza. Zuk booted the extra point making it 7-0 after one quarter.
In the second quarter it was a 7-yard touchdown run by Ethan Skog and then back-to-back touchdown runs of 18 and 80 yards by Zuk who ran for 187 yards on the night. Zuk added a two-point conversion run on his first score of the second quarter and an extra point kick on his second in the quarter as the Rebels took a 28-0 lead.
However, the Bombers were able to get a touchdown late in the half when Jonah Dahlman grabbed a 6-yard touchdown pass from David Favavra and then Favavra hit Nick Phiry on the two-point conversion to make it 28-8 at halftime.
"Braham ran a spread-shotgun style offense that we have not had to defend against this season," said ML-WR coach Dave Louzek. "They spread the defense out and then try to get into open spaces to make plays."
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The only score of the third quarter was a Brad Novy 18-yard touchdown romp, but then Skog and Michael Unzen added scores on 5- and 38-yard touchdown runs, respectively. For the game, Skog added 92 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns as ML-WR ran for over 300 yards on the ground.
"Their quarterback was a great runner and threw the ball well," explained Louzek. "We had to do a good job of taking attack angles that would not allow the runner to make cuts which would lead to big gains. Our defensive backs had to cover receiver more than they are use to, also."
The Bombers scored the final touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a Favavra-to-Nathan Carpenter 18-yard touchdown play to end the scoring.
The Rebels improved to 7-0 overall and remain ranked in the top five in the state in Class AA while the Bombers fall to 3-4 overall.
