Friday, November 02, 2001

The Natchez Democrat

The Adams County Christian School Rebels still have that ugly

goose egg in the &uot;W&uot; column. But the Rebels think they

can change that to a straight line tonight at 7 p.m. against Central

Private for ACCS’ homecoming.

&uot;This should be our largest crowd of the year. We’re going

to get focused and win this ballgame,&uot; assistant coach Rusty

McPhate said.

The Rebels have come close in the past two weeks to notching

their first win. Two weeks ago ACCS lost to Hillcrest 30-20. Last

week the Rebels fell behind 28-6 to Columbia Academy at the half.

But a late rally fell short, as ACCS lost 28-20. The 20 points

in both games marked the most points scored by the team in one

game this year.

McPhate attributes the late-season near successes to younger

players learning the offensive and defensive systems, and to players

just performing better.

&uot;We feel like we’re closing the gap. It’s a little late

to be doing it,&uot; McPhate said. &uot;We’ve had such a problem

with injuries and grades; it’s been hard to get continuity.

&uot;We’re moving in the right direction. We’re coming around.

We have responded well in the past games.&uot;

And the Rebels are looking for the &uot;carry-over&uot; effect

to kick in tonight. The Rebels played well in the second half

of the Columbia game, holding the Cougars scoreless while scoring

14 points.

&uot;We executed, but we didn’t execute soon enough,&uot;

McPhate said. &uot;We’ll try to carry over the second half of

last week to this week.&uot;