For Charly Cardilicchia, the Westshore Rebels are like a pot of boiling water.
If you put a pot of water on a stove and set it at the highest temperature, it remains the same temperature the whole time, the water doesn’t begin to boil until the molecules start reacting. It’s the energy that builds that causes the water to boil. The same can be said of the Rebels.
And fans got a taste of what a well-oiled Rebels team could do during their 51-13 win over the Chilliwack Valley Huskers on Saturday.
“The temperature has been on hot for a while here, but the energy hasn’t gotten us to the point of boiling. The second half of that game, we got to see how explosive we could be,” said Cardilicchia, head coach of the Rebels.
“We’ve got a lot of athletes and weapons on the offense and we’re very fast, strong and mean on defense.”
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Building on the momenum from last week’s 29-5 win over the Langley Rams, the Rebels dominated on the ground, racking up 316 yards against the Huskers at Westhills Stadium.
But it wasn’t until the second half that the team exploded offensively with three touchdowns from Birhanu Yitna, as well as one each from Cole Theobald and Austin Lindbrow.
Running back Trey Campbell had another successful game, touching the ball 15 times for 128 yards and one touchdown.
But the team’s performance has been a double-edged sword. Despite the convincing win, penalties continue to be an issue, as the team racked up 24 and coughed up 232 yards.
“At the end of the day, it’s stuff we have to clean up – after whistle penalties. Penalties are self-inflicted wounds. It’s not what the other team is doing to us that scares me, it’s what we’re doing to ourselves,” Cardilicchia said.
“That’s very controllable and very manageable. That’s a postitive moving forward that the one major thing with our team is within our power to control.”
The win brings the team to 4-1, at the half-way point of the season. While Cardilicchia admits he would have liked to see the team 5-0, the results are promising for the next five games and ultimately he hopes the team will take another run at the Cullen Cup.
The Rebels are expected to boost their roster with a handful of new recruits who are expected to join the team in the second-half of the season as well.
“We’ve got ourselves in a position where the kids, the coaches and the fans, everything is coming together,” Cardilicchia said.
This week the team is on a bye for a much-needed break. Up next, the Rebels take on the Kamloops Broncos for game three of a four-game homestand on Saturday, Sept. 9. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. at Westhills Stadium.
kendra.wong@goldstream
