In a game where the Rebels were outgained in every offensive category except for rushing yards, the defense and an opportune touchdown allowed G-R to fight off Collins-Maxwell 8-6 Friday night.

G-R threw four passes on offense for minus-1 yards and ran the ball 52 times for 178 yards. Many of those carries were from quarterback Keagan Giesking, who carried 38 times for 164 yards.

Rebels head coach John Olson said he knows the G-R offense isn’t the most creative, but it’s done by necessity.

“It’s a boring offense,” Olson said. “But when we try to spread it out, we aren’t very successful at it. We do work on that quite a bit. We will get better at it and we have gotten better at it.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

G-R didn’t start off strong, conceding the first score of the game late in the first quarter. The Rebels had set up to stop Collins-Maxwell’s passing attack, conceding short routes and bubble screens in an attempt to keep the Spartans in front of them. Still, an early break in coverage saw Jace Huntrods get past his defender and catch a 27-yard touchdown with 2:18 in the first quarter. The extra point attempt hit the helmet of a lineman and was missed.

After this big play, the Spartans were able to move the ball but didn’t cross the goal line — a credit to the Rebels’ season-long strategy of putting the defense at the top of their game plan.

It’s a strategy unique to eight-man football, usually known for high-scoring games and few punts.

The Rebels punted eight times Friday night, and Olson said leaning on the special teams almost let the team down.

“Our punt game wasn’t great,” Olson said. “Usually you don’t punt a whole lot and when you do punt, you’re punting it to their best player typically so you try and punt it away and it wasn’t great tonight.

“Those are things we gotta clean up.”

The second-quarter was controlled by G-R. After an interception by the Rebels was canceled out by a fumble, they stopped Collins-Maxwell on fourth down and drove down the field to score — helped by a 50-yard run from Giesking. He punched it in from the one-yard line, and after Luke Riffey ran in the two-point conversion, G-R was in front.

The second half was mostly about maintaining the lead and changing field position. The Rebels would get one or two first downs and then punt to try and give the Spartans a long field. For the most part, it worked, too.

Despite the Spartans passing for 251 yards on 57 attempts, they didn’t translate the yards to red-zone trips or points, and turnovers spoiled their momentum more often than not. Three turnovers — all interceptions, including one by Caleb Egesdal with 1:38 left in the fourth quarter — did in Collins-Maxwell. The Rebels had multiple pick-sixes called back for penalties, but Olson was happy with the defense creating opportunities and credited defensive backs coach James Weida.

In the end, everything went to plan for Olson and the Rebels, who sit unbeaten.

“We spent a ton of time on our coverages,” Olson said. “Especially against a team like this, and Baxter next week. Very proud of our defensive backs.”

G-R plays Baxter next Friday at 7 p.m.