The Rebels thought they had the right play drawn up when they went for a two-point conversion in the third quarter against Maple River Friday night in Wells.

But United South Central quarterback Riley Swearingen couldn’t find an open receiver and the Rebels failed to take a 15-14 lead in their homecoming game against the Eagles. Instead USC had two late fourth quarter drives stall deep in Maple River territory and suffered a 14-13 loss.

“We had a lot of time left and we thought we had a good play to go for two … but one of our two options wasn’t there,” Rebels head coach Brent Schimek said. “We still had two drives after that where we were down there and we didn’t take advantage of it. I feel bad for the kids, they played their butts off in the second half.”

With Swearingen out of options he pulled the ball down but wasn’t able to run into the end zone.

“It’s supposed to be a bootleg, tight end cross and the receiver got a little hung up,” Swearingen said. “The other side of the field was open but I didn’t see and we fell short. I thought we had it, we were feeling it.”

USC (1-5, 1-4) started its second drive of the fourth quarter from its own 17-yard line and drove all the way to the Maple River 13-yard line with 3:45 left to play. On first and 10 from the 13, the Rebels thought they had a touchdown when Swearingen connected with Chris Schultz in the back of the end zone for what looked like a touchdown. Schultz had both feet in initially, but didn’t have possession of the ball and when he gained control the ball his momentum carried him out of bounds. USC had another shot on a fourth-and-seven Swearingen tried to complete a shuffle pass to Jake Sonnek that fell incomplete.

The Rebels defense held the Eagles (1-5, 1-4) on the ensuing possession and gave the offense one last chance to win it with 53.9 seconds remaining. USC started the drive from its own 30 and made it down to the Maple River 24-yard line with 11.2 seconds left. But the Rebels couldn’t find another completion from there and the game ended on an incomplete pass intended for Schultz.

“That’s a big game,” Schimek said. “That’s a game kids want to win. We came up a few clicks short.”

USC worked itself back into the game after going down 14-0 early in the third quarter by taking advantage of a fumble by Eagles running back Brandon Reynolds at Maple River’s 4-yard line. The Rebels scored on the next play on a 1-yard run by Matthew Wood to draw the game to 14-7 after the extra point. USC recovered another fumble at the Eagles 34-yard line on the very next Maple River possession. Six plays later Riley Stenzel bulldozed his way into the end zone to put the Rebels at 14-13.

In the first half USC had difficulty stopping the Eagles’ ground game and Maple River held a 6-0 lead at halftime after Reynolds scored from one yard out in the first quarter. The defense clamped down and came up with big stops down the stretch and gave the offense a chance to win the game.

“We kind of put ourselves in a hole in the first half,” Rebels tight end Jake Sonnek said. “It was good to see us come out and play hard in the second but we just have to convert.”

USC grabbed three turnovers in the third quarter as the team started to gain some momentum early on after a slow first half.

Maple River finished the game with 197 yards rushing and 276 yards of total offense. USC had 147 yards rushing with Swearingen leading the way with 64 yards. Swearingen finished the night 11-for-25 passing with 99 yards.

The loss may sting for now, but the Rebels have to prepare for their final two games beginning with Minnesota Valley Lutheran next Friday.

“We just need to let it go,” Swearingen said. “Next week is a different game.”

Maple River 14, USC 13

Maple River – 6 0 8 0 – 14

USC – 0 0 13 0 – 13

First Quarter

MR – Brandon Reynolds 2 run (conversion failed)

Second Quarter

MR – Blair Oachs 28 pass from Isaac Schultz (kick good)

Third Quarter

USC – Matthew Wood 1 run (kick good)

USC – Riley Stenzel 1 run (conversion failed)

Fourth Quarter

No scoring

Total offense

MR – 276

USC – 246

Total rushing

MR – 193

USC – 147

Total passing

MR – 83

USC – 99