The Juanita Rebels met their match Friday night, falling 21-14 to Bellevue at Bergh Field.

In their first loss the season the Rebels battled back after an early 14-0 defecit to score twice in the third quarter, despite a litany of flags flying throughout the second half.

“It probably made a little impact,” said head coach Shaun Tarantola about the number of flags during the game. “But I think at the end of the day officials never win or lose a game. It’s always about our execution. I don’t know how much difference it made really, but I give Bellevue a lot of credit for being able to drive down the field like that. They did an awesome job going down and eating up clock.”

Bellevue earned the first touchdown of the night on a 91-yard kick return for a 7-0 start. The Rebels tried to slow the Bellevue offense but the Wolverines found space in the second quarter for a touchdown pass with 9:35 left in the quarter for a 14-0 game.

The Rebels tried to gain momentum on offense during the remaining minutes of the second quarter, moving downfield. Juanita found it’s way through with time winding down in the second as quarterback Derek Kaufman threw a huge pass to Austin Hilliker with 52 seconds on the clock for a 14-7 score going into the half.

In the third, the Rebels slowly moved the ball, looking for their chance to tie the game against the reigning 3A state champions. Charles Benjamin came up huge for Rebels with 6:35 on the clock, scoring a touchdown to tie the game.

The Wolverines racked up the fouls during the third quarter, including an unsportsmanlike conduct on head coach Butch Goncharoff. The third quarter ended with the tie holding and the game was decided in the last 12 minutes. But Bellevue stole the game back with a touchdown with 7:29 left on the clock for a 21-14 game.

Fouls on Juanita in the final minutes pushed the team back on yards, and a Kaufman pass was intercepted to give Bellevue the ball back with 6 minutes left. For the first time this season the Rebels found themselves racing against the clock, unable to make the situation work to gain a tying touchdown.

“We’ve got to get better that, that’s for sure,” Tarantola said about fighting against the clock. “The penalties there at the end, that was unlike us. It’s a situation we have to practice more to get better at that. I’ll take the blame on that one. We had the wrong personnel in there for what we were trying to do. We have to make sure we get that right, right away.”

Prior to the season, knowing the team would face the league, and states top teams back to back Fridays Tarantola said he was a little worried about the physical toll those games could take on the players. Now that he’s seen the Rebels come through it, he said he’s pleased.

“I think both sides of the ball played well. It’s hard to say which one was better, but I was pleased by how physical our guys were on both sides of the ball,” he said of the game against Bellevue. “It’s good preparation. If we keep winning we’re going to have to play games every week come November. I was worried going into the season, but I feel pretty good now and we’ll see how we respond next week.”

Overall, Tarantola said it was a good gauge of where the team stands so far this season, but acknowledged they are only half way there.

“It’s a big gauge for where we are right now, but it never matters where you’re at in week six,” he said. “It matters where you are in weeks 10 through 14. That’s our goal is to really take this game and learn from it and see how much better we can get from it. I think Bellevue gave us the opportunity to get better.”

The Rebels will head to Mount Si next week for an away game, before returning the following Friday, Oct. 22, to match against Lake Washington. Juanita is 5-1 this season. Mount Si beat Mercer Island last Friday 42-10 and are 4-2 overall this season.

During the Oct. 22 game, which is homecoming for Juanita, fans on both the Rebels and Lake Washington side are encouraged to support their teams.

Prior to the game, which begins at 7 p.m. a barbecue will be held at JHS in support of CHantil Still, a JHS grad who died in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. Proceeds from the event will go to both, a scholarship in her name, and to Victims of Motorcycle Accident Foundation.

Athletic Director Tim Crowder said there will also be a fireworks display during the halftime events at the game.