REGION — The Telstar Rebel football team (grades 2-4) capped off an incredible season with a thrilling 28-22 victory over the Area Youth Football Oilers from Rumford in the Championship game.

The team finished the regular season 7-1, losing only to the AYF Steelers.  After getting a first-round bye in the playoffs, the Rebels avenged their regular season loss to the Steelers with a 26-6 win.

Their tilt with the Oilers would be more competitive.

The Rebels trailed Rumford 22-14 heading into the final quarter. A late touchdown pulled the Rebels within two, needing only a successful two-point try to keep their season alive. Running back Dylan Resue punched the ball in to tie the game 22-22. The defense would hold strong the remainder of regulation, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, each team gets four chances from the 10-yard line to try and score. The Rebels opted to go on offense first. They scored, but failed on the two point try, making it 28-22. After a run to the two-yard line by the Oilers, the Rebel defense stood strong. A fumble by the quarterback and a mishandle by the running back resulted in the Oilers losing 9 yards total on consecutive plays. On their last attempt for a touchdown another bobble by the quarterback resulted in a sack for the Rebels.

“One of the teams biggest strengths was their ability to play smash mouth football,” Rebels Head Coach Roger Payne said.

He added that keeping the kids emotions in check.

“We pushed them extremely hard. Keeping them focused and motivated is always a challenge at this level,” he said.

There were seven players on the team who had never played football until this year.

It was Payne’s’ first year as coach of the Rebels, but his 11th overall. He spent the last 10 coaching the AYF Steelers.

The team was part of the Sandy Andy Football League.

The team will be losing some of its veteran players to the fifth and sixth grade level, but will also have a decent crop of returning players.

“This was an extremely fun season for us!! As a coach my biggest goal is to teach kids to love the game of football. Overall the goal at this level is to keep players coming back year after year,” he added. We had some awesome fans cheering these guys on and it made a huge difference.