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New-look Rebels seek own identity in 2016

REINBECK – It’s back to not talking about winning championships. Last year is last year, and this year’s squad isn’t the team who won the Class A state title. For as “awesome” as the Gladbrook-Reinbeck football team was in reaching the top of Class A, these Rebels aren’t the ones who won the state championship, and therefore, aren’t the defending state champions.

It’s an opportunity for this team to create its own identity as the Rebels march into 2016 in Class A District 5 competition.

“I told the kids we don’t talk about championships a whole lot,” said G-R head coach John Olson. “Last year we didn’t talk about it until right toward the end. If we’re an NBA team or if we’re an NFL team and we have the same nucleus of 25 people coming back every single time, then you’d be defending it, because it’s the same players all the time. We have different players every single year.”

Gone is the 3,422 yards and 43 touchdowns quarterback Jake Schuman and running back Eric Stoakes combined for through the air and on the ground in 2015. Gone is leading receiver and tackler Colton Dinsdale, and importantly, the leadership he brought to the Rebels.

Junior Hunter Lott takes over the signal calling duties with a clean canvas in which to paint his own Rebel legacy upon, having never thrown a pass at the varsity level. That’s not to say he doesn’t have varsity experience. He ran the ball 12 times for 92 yards in varsity competition last year, while hauling in six receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown as a wide receiver. He also logged 44 tackles on defense as a defensive back. In fact, while he was fifth on the Rebels in tackles a year ago, he is the top returning tackler.

“The last three years we had starters that came back every single year, so it seemed like we had a very similar team coming back,” Olson said. “This year, even though we have six or seven returning starters, they maybe only started on one side of the ball and not the other. We’re blessed with 14 really good seniors. We’re blessed with 14 juniors. So we have a pretty good size of kids as far as numbers go.”

Parker Bown, listed at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds will move from the offensive line into the backfield and will handle the handoffs from Lott. Bown was also supposed to be the Rebel placekicker a year ago, but a broken leg suffered on the first day of practice in pads opened the door for Walker Thede to take over the kicking duties, and the rest is history.

The now junior wideout and kicker went 5-for-6 on field goals last season. Thede kicked a 22-yard field goal in overtime against Denver in the state semifinals last season to send the Rebels to the title game. He missed a field goal with 18 seconds left that would’ve put the Rebels ahead, but he kept his emotions in check and bounced back. He also hauled in a touchdown pass in the semifinals.

For as young as Gladbrook-Reinbeck is this season, that is the kind of valuable experience that does return to the Rebel lineup.

One hit the Rebels have already suffered this season is the loss of Tyler Pierce, who was slated to start at defensive end and wide receiver. Pierce tore his ACL this summer playing basketball, and will miss his senior year. He logged 25 tackles as a junior, including a sack.

“We’re not good right now. We’re going to get there. I don’t know how we’ll be the first game of the year because we have people that are playing different positions from the past,” Olson said. “We’re going to have a defensive back played outside linebacker. We’re going to have a tailback that played offensive line last year. We’re going to have people all over the place. We’re going to be a good team, we’re just not there yet.”

As Rebels who have had multiple successes in various sports across the board including football, basketball, soccer and baseball begin to graduate and move on, it ushers in a new group of athletes with the opportunity to learn the work ethic of what it takes from those that came before them.

“Try to work as hard as we possibly can,” Olson said. “But we tell the kids turn the switch on and off When the switch is on, let’s go. When practice is over with, hey, let’s joke around and go play video games again. It’s teaching them the on-off switch. Same with you at work or me at work. That’s what we need to do. We need to enjoy life, too.”

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