All along the Rebels of Juanita High School knew they needed to play their game this season on the football field. They had the potential, the talent and the know-how to get it done, they just needed to put it into action.
Friday night the Rebels passed a major test in their season, beating Liberty 28-14 at home to advance to a 5-0 record.
“I think it was an overall team effort,” said head coach Shaun Tarantola. “Both sides of the ball did what we asked them to do on every occasion. Our defense played great, our offense played great. That’s what it was going to take for us to get a win, that’s a really good team. We knew we had to play great football to get it done.”
The Patriots, who were ranked No. 2 in the state coming into Friday’s game had a 3-1 record this season, including an overtime win over Skyline. But the Rebels held their ground at Bergh Field, maintaining their game for control. It was a side of their game with exploded the previous week during a 58-0 blowout over Sammamish.
“We just took away that we’re getting better,” said Tarantola. “Our goal is to get better every week and I felt like we did some really good things against Sammamish and we really felt like we were getting better and I think it showed.”
In the first quarter against Liberty, the game started with 12 minutes of two solid teams feeling each other out, ending with no score. With 5:19 left in the second quarter however Juanita found their first chance, scoring off a run for a 7-0 lead.
Just under three minutes passed on the field before Chandler Jenkins broke through for a touchdown for the Patriots. Juanita returned with a long drive down the field, ending with a 10-yard pass from quarterback Derek Kaufman to Jarret Finau for another Rebel touchdown with 30 seconds left in the half for a 14-7 lead.
During the break Tarantola said the talk was about
After the break Juanita returned hoping to keep a slightly rattled looking Liberty on it’s toes. The Rebels continued their dominance on the field when Suli Tamaivena intercepted a long throw from Liberty quarterback Trey Wheeler. The play gave the Rebels momentum for Jeremiah Laufasa to score minutes later for a 21-7 lead. The third quarter ended with the 21-7 score.
But Liberty wasn’t ready to let the Rebels out of the game with just seven scored points. Trey Wheeler connected with Josh Gordon with 7:18 left in the fourth for a 21-14 ball game.
With the ball back in the Rebels possession they held on to it moving down the field with solid short runs before Laufasa found a crack in the Patriot defense, making a 55-yard dash for the final touchdown points of the night. He totaled more than 200 yards during the game.
“Jeremiah Laufasa, we had him playing a really good receiver all night, that receiver was pretty quiet, and then for him to spawn on offense and do what he did on offense it was really his time to shine tonight and he really took advantage of it,” said the coach.
Another Liberty interception late in the fourth quarter returned the ball to Juanita who slowly ran the clock down for the win.
The Rebels will host Bellevue next Friday night, Oct. 8 in a home contest. The Wolverines come into the game 4-1 and ranked as the No. 1 team in the state.
“I think that every week is different, but for us, we have to keep getting better at what we do,” said the coach about what will be key against the Wolverines. “It’s a long year ahead for us. We treat every win and any loss the same way and focus on the next week. We keep betting better and we’ll see what we didn’t do well (against Liberty) and take it to the next week.”
