No. 6 Rebels triumphant in tough battle with No. 11 Red Creek, grab goals from Rix, Lewis, Granger to power up 3-1 opening round win

Cuba-Rushford senior Caden Granger (6) battles alongside the Red Creek defender for the loose ball near midfield during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford junior Logan Lewis (7) goes up for the header against the Red Creek defense during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford senior Ethan Rix, off-center, receives a hug from his teammate, fellow senior Landon Wight (11) after he scored the first goal in the early stages of the opening half in Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup against Red Creek, in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford senior Landon Wight (11) dribbles his way down the field alongside the Red Creek defense during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford senior Hunter Williams (4) jousts with Red Creek for the loose ball in the defensive zone during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford junior Chandler Wirth sends the ball down the field, clearing the defensive zone during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup against Red Creek, in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford sophomore Jacob Smith (22) dribbles under pressure from the Red Creek defense during Wednesday afternoon’s Class C2 First Round matchup in Cuba. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

CUBA — It was a battle that the Rebels of Cuba-Rushford had to find ways to hang tough in. With visiting 11th seeded Red Creek in town for a visit for their first round matchup in the Class C2 bracket, they were no slouch despite holding a 1-11 record entering the condensed Sectional tournament.

The visiting Rams gave everything the Rebels could handle Veteran’s Day afternoon on Wednesday, despite falling behind fairly quickly in the first half of play. They would engage in a first half midfield battle all the way until the first horn sounded. Then in the second half, the tide began to turn slightly.

But that narrow amount proved to be just enough for Cuba-Rushford, as they received big second half goals from the feet of Logan Lewis and Caden Granger right before, and after the final mask break to keep their lead in tact, never losing it to hold on and take the 3-1 opening round victory over Red Creek to advance toward this weekend’s Quarterfinal stage.

“We had a lot of kids that noticed that Red Creek had 10 guys. They have 10 quality guys, and they controlled quite a bit of the midfield,” said Rebels coach Nick Perillo. “We didn’t have much energy. We came out flat. This definitely describes an ugly win for us. We had a lot of chances to put the ball into the net, and we also gave them too many chances for my liking coming back down the other way. At the end of the day, we found a way to come out of this game with the win. I’ll take it as is.”

At the 33:24 mark of the first half, after both Red Creek and Cuba-Rushford provided a corner kick each to start the game, the Rebels (4-5-2) cashed in on theirs, which also was their only corner kick of the game, as Logan Lewis delivered a ball to the front of the Rams goal. Although it went to the near side, it was quickly regained by Maddox Keller who delivered a pass onto Ethan Rix to poke home for the early lead.

From that point, the midfield battle settled in fairly quickly. Each team would continue providing chances in their opposing offensive zones, with Cuba-Rushford’s best chance to add more damage in the first 40 minutes stemming from a Caden Granger break to the net alongside the Red Creek defense, shimmying his way by to slide a chance on goal, but the ball would scurry wide and out for a Rams goal kick.

After halftime, the Rebels picked up the intensity on the offensive front, firing on all cylinders with multiple chances on goal while keeping Red Creek pinned deep on defense. There was no damage as of yet, as the Rebels continued to knock on the door. With the Rams responding with chance of their own, the door was answered by Logan Lewis right before the midway mark, as he intercepted a short clear by the Red Creek goalkeeper a short distance out, floating a shot to the top right corner of the cage to give the Rebels a huge 2-0 lead. Kaden Bell was credited with the assist.

Despite that, Red Creek did not go down without fighting back however. The Rams picked the intensity right back up where it was left off after the Lewis goal, as they nearly connected on a Jordan Verberg shot that hit the crossbar above Jarrett Campbell in goal for the hosts in blue. They would hold that level of play past the midway mark, where they were able to end the Cuba-Rushford shutout with their first goal on a header provided by Mitchel Irish, elevating up into the air in the midst of the scrum to put the ball way, cutting their deficit in half with 17:22 left remaining.

But Cuba-Rushford was able to get their two-goal advantage back again, this time for good, as Keller started the play from midfield by delivering a ball deep down the field to Rix, who was then able to put a gorgeous ball in the direction of Granger’s feet in what turned out to be a breakaway opportunity for the Rebels senior. Granger made sure it was one he did not miss, as he buried it far side to give the Rebels a 3-1 lead that they never lost.

Perillo said the second half resurgence all started with some words of encouragement at the halftime break.

“I encouraged these guys at halftime to come out and play much harder in the second half,” he said. “We started to figure things out a lot better then. Sometimes you have to get those ugly wins, and get those ugly goals to win a game. Logan was in the right place in the right time to finish the chance, and he’s struggled the past couple of games finishing the ball, so it was nice to see him get chalked up on the board with one as a redeemer of sorts on that one-timer. And then Granger missed a couple early on in spots where he’s been pretty clinical in, but he found the one he wanted to put away.”

34 total shots were applied between both goals on each end of the field, with Cuba-Rushford taking the 19-15 advantage over Red Creek. Campbell was able to secure the win for the hosts in blue with his mitts, putting a stop to eight of those shots to fill in the vacancy they earned in the Class C2 Quarterfinal round.

The Rebels will hit the road for said Quarterfinal game this Saturday night, as they face an opponent they are all too familiar with - No. 3 Bolivar-Richburg, their longtime rival for the third and final time this season. The Wolverines have already taken the regular season sweep of Rebels with a 3-1 victory in Bolivar on October 20, and a 4-2 win in Cuba on the last day of the regular season this past Friday.

As for his outlook on their impending matchup with Bolivar-Richburg, Perillo says its simple: His team has to have more of the will to win than the Wolverines.

“The first two times, Bolivar-Richburg wanted to win the game much more than we did. It was pretty clear in those two games that they did,” he said. “It’s simple as that. We came out a bit soft in our first game with them, and then the second time, we were even softer which was something I did not expect at the time. I’m excited to have this third game with them. I told the guys after the game that it can be pretty difficult to beat the same team three times in one season, so we’ll see how it all shakes out.”

The early indication is that first kick will be slated for a 7 p.m. start at Dunsmore-Latimer Field in Bolivar. The winner will move onto the Class D2 Semifinal round, where either the Rebels or Wolverines will square off with either No. 7 Geneseo or No. 2 Caledonia-Mumford next Wednesday night.