By LUKE GRANTHUM/For the Reporter

MONTGOMERY — The Coosa Valley Rebels came up short at Evangel Christian. The Rebels were defeated by the Lions 39-21.

The Lions opened the scoring with 3:53 to go in the first quarter on a Michael Collins’ 36-yard touchdown run. The PAT was no good.

The Rebels answered with 8:33 to go in the second quarter with a touchdown of their own to take the lead. The Rebels were facing a fourth and 12 at their own 34 and faked a punt. Miles Sharp hit Easton Hopkins on a 66-yard strike and the Rebels converted the two-point conversion to make it 8-6. It took the Lions just 8 plays to answer the touchdown. The two-point conversion was good, and the Lions took a 14-8 lead. Evangel closed out the half with a long drive, scoring with 22 seconds on the clock to lead 21-8.

The second half opened with each team exchanging punts. Coosa Valley then marched 59 yards behind the running of Miles Sharp with a four-play drive culminating in Sharp’s touchdown from 11 yards out with 7:24 to go in the third quarter. The Rebels kicked the PAT to close the gap to 21-15.

With the 1:08 to play in the third quarter, the Lions scored to take a 27-15 lead.  The Lions forced the Rebels to turn the ball over on downs on their next possession, taking over with 9:49 to go in the fourth quarter.  Evangel then orchestrated an eight-play drive and on fourth down scored on a 15-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 33-15. The PAT was no good.

Coosa Valley scored again with 4:36 to go in the game on a 20-yard pass from Mason Houston to Miles Sharp pulling the Rebels to within 12 at 33-21. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful. Evangel then closed out the scoring with 1:58 to go in the game with a touchdown. The PAT was no good leaving the final score 39-21.

The Rebels were led by Miles Sharp and Mason Houston on offense as the two combined for more than 160 yards. Defensively, Coosa Valley was led by Easton Hopkins with eight tackles and Saylor Carroll with five.

Coach Bob Taylor said he believed his team improved as the game went on and got some experience for some younger players.

“We played better in the second half,” he said.  “We had good effort and played hard. We still need to try to correct little things.”

The Rebels move on to face Lakeside at home on Sept. 12.