It took a few days for the shock to wear off.
When a team goes into its opening game ranked No. 3 in the country, it doesn鈥檛 expect to lose 62-6. But that鈥檚 what happened to the Westshore Rebels last weekend against the Okanagan Sun in the sa国际传媒 颅Football Conference.
鈥淲e were not who we thought we were. So there鈥檚 a sense of humbleness. We got punched in the mouth and didn鈥檛 respond in our opening game,鈥� was the blunt assessment by Rebels quarterback Colby 颅Henkel.
鈥淪o the mood has been really intense this week in practice. There鈥檚 not a lot of joking around when you get 60 points laid on you.鈥�
Henkel said the Rebels are determined and will be ready to answer today in their home curtain-raiser against the Valley Huskers (1-1) at 4 p.m. at Starlight Stadium.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bounce-back game to prove ourselves,鈥� said 颅veteran Rebels outside-linebacker 颅Cordell Willmott.
鈥淟ast week was a 颅reality check. But everything is 颅correctable. We believe we are still a championship-calibre team that needs to correct our mistakes and focus on discipline, fundamentals, mental errors and the little things. We have talent. We need to play together.鈥�
Response was the word of the week in practice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a young team that got kicked in the teeth and we鈥檒l see how we respond,鈥� said Rebels president Rob Lervold.
鈥淎s far as we鈥檙e concerned, we got all the kinks out, and last week is in the rear-view mirror. The players are really excited to be in front of their home crowd and will be energized by it.鈥�
The Rebels will be hoping to follow the script used by the Huskers, who responded to their 39-8 opening-game loss to the Sun by beating the Kamloops Broncos 36-15 in their next game.
Of the few Rebels 颅opening highlights, inside-receiver Kieran Poissant caught five passes for 114 yards as Henkel completed 19 of 34 passes for 174 yards, including a touchdown toss to Michael Oliva, with no interceptions.
The Vancouver Island 颅Raiders, who dropped their opener last week 22-1 in 颅Nanaimo to the Langley Rams, meet Kamloops on Sunday in a match-up of 0-1 teams. It is a Broncos home game but will be played in Chilliwack due to the COVID restrictions in Interior Health.
