By AJ Lee
The Byrnes Rebels and the Spartanburg Vikings began playing football against each other in 1959. Oddly enough, the game in 1959 ended in a scoreless tie. The first win in the series came the following season in 1960, when Spartanburg was victorious 7-6. Entering the 2023 matchup, the Vikings led the series 32-25 with 2 ties. This year's version of the rivalry featured two of the top teams in the State squaring off at Nixon Field, the home of the Byrnes Rebels.
On a gorgeous night in Duncan, South Carolina 6,500 people settled in for the
beginning of region play. Both teams would trade 3 and outs to start the game. With 3:28 left in the 1st quarter, Byrnes' Running Back Tre Segarra caught a toss from QB Andrew Stevens and took off for a 60-plus yard touchdown.
Defense was the story of this game, and with four and a half minutes left in the first half, the Vikings would fumble the ball, and Armoni Weaver would pick it up and take it all the way back for a Rebels' touchdown. 14-0 would be your score at halftime with Byrnes leading the way.
Similar to the first two quarters, the third would also net only one scoring play...it was just weirder than the rest. On fourth down, Byrnes would snap the ball over their punter’s head. The Rebels' punter made a good decision in a split second. To not let the Vikings get a touchdown, he would kick it out of the endzone and give up the safety, but not six points. That play put the Vikings on the scoreboard, and the third quarter would end with Byrnes leading 14-2.
At the start of the 4th quarter, the Vikings would finally get into the endzone as QB TJ Johnson scored on the ground to bring the score to 14-9. The Vikings would get the ball back and put together a solid drive, moving into the redzone with under two minutes left and a chance to win the game. However, the Byrnes' defense had other plans. With just over a minute left, TJ Johnson threw a pass right to the Rebels defender, James Oates, who would take it all the way back 78 yards for a touchdown. Spartanburg would get the ball back but could not pull off a miracle as the Rebels won 21-9 to start off region play 1-0.
Andrew Stevens went 11 for 19 for 119 and 1 touchdown for the Rebels. TJ Johnson went 8 for 19 for only 19 yards and 1 rushing touchdown. The biggest difference maker in the game was James Oates. Oates had the huge pick-six, but he also helped force a fumble and had twelve tackles on the night.
The Byrnes Rebels will have another region showdown next week as they travel to Boiling Springs who fell 14-10 at Dorman on Friday. The Spartanburg Vikings will also have another region game, but this one at Viking Stadium as they host the Gaffney Indians who did not play in Week 6. This will the Tribe’s first region contest.
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