Matthew Nevers was officially introduced as the fifth head coach in Rebels’ history on January 1, 2013. In his press conference, the 31-year-old head coach told the Rebels’ organization and fans to expect greatness. Expect it. While he was part of his brother’s regime, Matthew Nevers ensured Rebel fans that this was a new era of Rebel football and that the 2013 team was not going to fall victim to the same weakness the 2012 team had. The 2013 team was going to win the championship.

Yes, for the past several seasons the Rebels started their new season by stating that they were going to win the championship, and while each year the team ultimately came up short in their quest of a title, 2013 just seemed different. To start, a week into the 2013 season and Matthew Nevers’ official regime as head coach, the Rebels made the move to improve their scouting and coaching department by implementing a mandatory reading of B.J. Ruddell’s “Fantasy Football For Winners: The Kick-Ass Guide to Dominating Your League From the World’s Foremost Fantasologist.” This book provided in-depth scouting and pre-draft strategies, as well as, what to do during the draft, regular, and postseasons. This book is the ultimate guide and is what the 2013 California Rebels based their season on.

Matthew Nevers and his coaching staff knew that anything short of a championship in 2013 would be considered a lost cause. The Rebel fans, more importantly, their owner, Hunter Schaal grew tired of the short, lack- luster playoff success the team was experiencing over the last few seasons. First-round exits in 2011 and 2012 brought frustration to not only me but the fans as well. Being the owner of the Rebels and a member of the Yuma Scorpions, I knew that my team and the coaching staff that I assembled was by far the best in the league. But as many fantasy players know, knowledge of the game is only 25- 50% of fantasy football. The other 50-75% of the game revolves around a great deal of luck and the Rebels had very little luck during December.

While Matthew Nevers lost his first playoff game in 2012, the team that he helped carry to the postseason was not his desired team. I knew that Matthew Nevers was the right coach for the job if he had the right players, his players on the team. To ensure that Matthew Nevers would get his players in 2013, I made the difficult decision in March 2013, to ask our General Manager Paul Warfield to step-down and resign so that the Rebels could move in a different direction. After a tumultuous 2012 season, Paul Warfield agreed it was best to step down and retire from sports management. In his replacement, the California Rebels hired 47-year-old Dan Thompson. Dan was a former scout in Major League Baseball, but football was and always will be his first love. Both Matthew and Dan hit it off right away, agreeing what direction to take the 2013 Rebels, as well as looking into what the future may hold. It was a perfect partnership from day one.

With the front office now in place, the 2013 California Rebels’ season officially got underway. Matthew didn’t do as much scouting as his brother Ryan did the previous season, as he left the scouting to the scouting department and General Manager Dan Thompson. What Matthew did do was tie the knot with his long-time girlfriend Rachel Schwerte in June 2013. It was a beautiful ceremony in Rachel’s hometown in upstate New York. While Matthew was busy getting married, Dan Thompson was busy conducting player profiles, interviews, and mock drafts. The team’s new general manager was making an immediate impact as well as making quite the impression with the team’s owner.

No one in the front office including myself knew what the draft order, or how many teams would be in the Yuma Scorpions this season. We went into the 2013 offseason with the impression that the Rebels would once again be competing in a fourteen-team league like they had done the previous season. Playing in a fourteen-team league, owners and teams need to be prepared for anything and everything as it is very difficult to predict how teams will stack up in mock drafts. Dan Thompson tried to do this but found the results from these mocks to be invalid due to several inconsistencies. Because of these inconsistencies, Dan Thompson spent most of his first offseason focusing on player profiles and statistical analyses.

Another new addition to the Rebels front office in 2013 was the adoption and implementation of FantasyGuru.com. This subscription-based website became the heart and soul of the California Rebels’ Scouting Department. The scouting department used FantasyGuru’s player profiles and pre-draft tools to help formulate Dan Thompson’s strategy heading into draft season in late August. FantasyGuru.com has always and will always be a strategic advantage to the California Rebels.

2013 continued to be a season of change for the Rebels but not in the sense of front office or team changes. As 2012 turned into 2013, the myth of the Rebels skyrocketed in popularity. This uptick in team popularity for the Rebels had a lot to do with their new head coach, Matthew Nevers, and his brother Ryan Nevers. The Nevers brothers and their football influence both on and off the gridiron helped spread the message and image of the Rebels into markets and communities the team had failed to reach before. A lot of this popularity growth was done through the brother’s end of game press conferences and social media presence. The brothers brought humor and swagger to the Rebels, helping to make the team a global brand in the fantasy football world.

Because the Rebels were growing in popularity, I decided to start writing a book focusing on the team’s history from 2008-2012. I began writing the book in April 2013 following the 2013 NFL Draft. I wanted the book to be finished by the start of the 2013 season so that only gave me four months to finish the book. Because I only had four months to finish the book, the finished product was not well received by readers and fans. Despite the negative reviews from the fans, I was still very proud of writing and finishing a book on the Rebels.

A new book was not the only change the Rebels made during the 2013 Offseason that didn’t involve the front office. The second change was a major change for the Rebels as it completely altered the way the team looked on and off the field. That is right, it was a logo change. On July 28, 2013, the California Rebels got rid of their wordmark logo letter “C” that they had used since the team moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and finally adopted a legit logo, with a legit mascot. The logo was of a bearded rebel looking ahead as he prepared for battle. The new logo continued to use the team’s trademarked “rebel red” color, making it possible for the team to use both red, white, navy blue, and black uniform combinations.

The new logo was released and made public to the fans through the Rebels Twitter account on the evening of July 28th and was generally well-received by the fans. It was a different approach by the team and it officially gave the Rebels an identity. I quickly ordered helmet decals for the Rebels using the new logo and placed them on a white helmet.

As the summer and offseason came to a close, I began my Sophomore season for Carroll High. I entered the season intending to be named a defensive back starter for the varsity team. The legend of Schaal Island was returning for a second season and I had high hope and belief that I could be named a varsity starter in my first year of eligibility of varsity play. My goal of being named a varsity starter was quickly put on the backburner when I finally realized I did not have the same strength and size of my fellow defensive back teammates. While I wasn’t quite big and strong enough for varsity play, the junior varsity corner spot was still up for grabs.

I began training camp as a potential starter for junior varsity. I completed and trained in all the offseason programs and even impressed the coaches with my speed and quickness off the ball. I was determined to carry on my Schaal Island nickname and all my teammates believed that I could. Following practice, one night, my teammates and I decided to go out to eat. We decided on Pizza Hut as it was a centralized location for all of us. We ordered our food, I ordered a pepperoni pizza and planned to share it with a few of the other guys. As we were waiting for the pizza to arrive, we were talking about football and everyday life. I was enjoying the company of my friends when I got a text message from my Dad fellow Yuma Scorpions owner of team USMC.

The text was a screenshot of another conversation my dad was having with Commissioner Sean Metz. Sean was asking my Dad if he felt I would be interested in becoming the next commissioner of the Yuma Scorpions. My Dad answered for me and said, “I think Hunter would love to become commissioner.” He was right. Sean was stepping down as league commissioner to focus and spend more time with his family and young children. It was sad to see him step down, but I was ready for this next challenge of mine in the world of fantasy football. I knew I had what it took to carry out the daily tasks of being a league commissioner.

The news of my job promotion and acceptance of league commissioner broke rapidly as Rebels’ Insider Dale Walters broke the news on the team’s social media; posting the screenshot of my Dad and Sean’s conversation. Addison Ross, a bigtime Rebel supporter, commented back, “Now the Rebels will never lose again!” Fans from all around showed their support and gratitude for me. We all felt that the fortunes of the Rebels had just swung in the team’s favor.

I officially took over as Yuma Scorpions Commissioner in mid-August. The first thing I did as commissioner was call up the former commissioner Sean Metz and ask him for advice on how we should approach the season. He gave me tips and tricks on how to manage the league as well as give me the contact information of the owners who played last season. It was now my job to see if they were interested in joining back up.

Over half of the owners who played in 2012 in the gigantic fourteen-team league had decided to drop out. With the league now down to only six teams (the Rebels, USMC, GMEN, Metz, Netsch, and Helmick), I needed to find four new owners who wanted into the league and I needed to find them fast. I went to Twitter and announced that there were openings in the Rebels fantasy football league. Our new loyal fanbase all seemed excited to join, but none of them jumped at the opportunity. It wasn’t until I went to my homeroom class during at school that I was able to find the Yuma Scorpions’ newest members.

Addison Ross who was the school’s varsity quarterback was also an avid fan of the Rebels. He learned about the opening and opportunity and he gladly accepted my offer. He became the newest member of the Yuma Scorpions when he placed his team in Des Moines, Iowa. His team name was a direct attack on the California Rebel franchise. His team name was the Iowa Rebel Killers.

After securing Addison Ross in the league, the other opening spots filled up quickly. I was able to persuade Zach Riddle and Levi Shield to join the league as well. They saw me talking to Ross and they too immediately found interest in the league. Zach placed his team in New York City to rival the long-time standing successful GMEN franchise. Zach also decided to attack the Rebels with his team’s name. He named his franchise The End of the Rebellion, a play on the Rebels’ 2013 slogan, “The Rebellion’s Coming.” I wasn’t too upset about the team names (Iowa’s and New York’s) as I found them fun and engaging. As for Levi’s team, he decided to place his franchise in Dallas, Texas, and name his team the Dallas Studs.

With three teams now added, the Yuma Scorpions Fantasy Football League was up to nine members. The league needed to find one more owner to join the league so that we could officially draft our teams. I was talking to my friends at lunch one day about how I needed another owner. Andrew Boell a good, lifelong friend of mine said that he would join the league. I didn’t bother trying to find other suitors as the league needed its tenth member ASAP. Boell officially entered the league and placed his franchise in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and named his team the Minnesota Destroyers. The Yuma Scorpions now had ten teams, making it much easier for the draft to finally occur.

The 2013 Yuma Scorpions Draft was set for Tuesday, August 27th. I was trying to keep with Sean Metz’ last Monday of August draft day, but due to conflicts with JV football, the draft had to be held on a Tuesday. The draft order was still set for randomization, meaning no team knew where they were drafting until an hour before the draft began. When the draft lobby opened it was revealed that the Rebels had the seventh pick in the draft. For the third time since 2009, the Rebels were picking at #7.

Dan Thompson, Matthew Nevers, and I all showed up to the Rebels’ War Room dressed in khaki pants and the team’s new black sideline polo. I felt like I was Jim Harbaugh wearing the polo with the khakis. When the draft began, reigning NFL MVP Adrian Peterson went first overall. It wasn’t shocking to see him go first as he was coming off of his 2,000-yard campaign the previous fall. When it was the Rebels turn to pick, I made zero input in the decision. I left the draft picking to my new general manager. Dan Thompson’s first pick as Rebels GM was Detroit Lions Wide Receiver, Calvin Johnson. I was a little shocked. I did not go into the draft thinking that we would draft a wide receiver over a running back, but a new point system the points per reception (PPR) format was implemented for the first time this season. Dan Thompson recognized the format change and made sure the Rebels got the best wide receiver available.

The next pick was Buffalo Bills’ Running Back CJ Spiller. He went to the Rebels’ longtime rival USMC. Following USMC’s pick, the Iowa Rebel Killers were on the clock. Iowa’s first pick was Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Jamaal Charles. This pick would become quite important later in the season and will be discussed more as this chapter progresses.

The Rebels 2013 draft class continued to be built with Saint Louis Rams’ Running Back Steven Jackson being added in the second round, Arizona Cardinals Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald being added in the third, and new Detroit Lions Running Back Reggie Bush being added in the fourth. Dan Thompson was building his team through two positions. While everyone was out grabbing their tight end and quarterbacks, Dan Thompson preached patience when it came to selecting these positions.

I embraced the wait and even told people in the days leading up to the draft that the Rebels wouldn’t be taking a quarterback till at least the seventh round. Many people I talked to thought I was crazy. But, just like Dan Thompson, I saw the value in waiting on your QB. When the Rebels finally did select a quarterback, they settled on Dallas Cowboys’ Quarterback . Romo was the guy the Rebels wanted all offseason long. They liked his measurables and potential for fantasy stardom.

For the first time since 2010, the Yuma Scorpion playoffs consisted of six teams, with the top two seeds earning a first-round bye. The Rebels were the number one seed, while the GMEN were awarded the second seed. Having the first round off, the California Rebels took the week off and relaxed as they awaited who their opponent would be in the next week. I felt quite confident that whoever the Rebels played the Rebels would win handily and finally advance to the Yuma Bowl. As Week 14 came to a close the team was notified that their semi-finals opponent would be the Iowa Rebel Killers. Iowa would travel to sunny Los Angeles with a date in Yuma Bowl V on the line.

Addison Ross was ecstatic that the Killers were moving on and that they would be playing the Rebels with a championship appearance on the line. I remember quite vividly Addison talking trash all week leading up to the game, with the biggest trash-talking coming Saturday Night at a high school dance. With his friends around him, Ross told me how my team was going down and all I could say to him was Believe and Be Ready. It was playoff time and the Rebels’ motto and favorite saying kept me focused on the team’s objective. This was by far the most important game in the team’s short history and I wasn’t going to let Addison Ross get into my head.

Instead of sticking with the team that got the Rebels the #1 seed and a first-round bye, Coach Nevers made the daring move to bench starting quarterback Tony Romo in favor of second-year standout Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill was having an excellent 2013 fantasy season and was considered a sleeper for Week 15. Romo, on the other hand, had been struggling over the last few games, failing to meet the coaches and owners’ expectations. With this game being the biggest in franchise history Coach Nevers and I were taking no chances on Romo disappointing yet again and went with the just as safe, but higher upside Ryan Tannehill.

The 2013 Semi-Final game kicked off on Sunday Morning with the California Rebels playing six of their nine starters in the early slot of games. The team played decently but by no means was their performance living up to the expectation and average the fans and ownership had grown accustomed to over the last month and a half. The Iowa Rebel Killers, on the other hand, were playing six of their players as well. Half of Iowa’s players were underperforming, which was great for the Rebels, but it was Iowa’s other three players, the “Killer B’s,” that was causing trouble for the Rebels and keeping Iowa in the game.

Iowa’s Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Running Back Le’Veon Bell, and Wide Receiver Antonio Brown combined for sixty points for The Killers, with a large chunk of Brown’s points coming off a walk-off touchdown as time expired. The last-minute miracle by the Pittsburgh Steelers that day against the Cincinnati Bengals helped put the Iowa Rebel Killers in striking distance of defeating the #1 seeded California Rebels.

With the Rebels holding a small lead heading into the afternoon games, the Rebels had two players playing, while Iowa had one of their best players, Jamaal Charles slated to take on the Oakland Raiders in the East Bay. I was getting nervous for sure and the last-minute score by Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown didn’t help. I knew that the game was going to be close and that if I wanted the Rebels to win, Jamaal Charles would need to have a terrible game, and Rebels’ Running Back Zac Stacy would need to have a monster game. The complete opposite occurred.

From the beginning of the game, the Kansas City Chiefs were rolling over the lowly Oakland Raiders. Jamaal Charles scored quickly on the team’s first possession, the first play to be exact. I wasn’t watching the Raiders game yet when the first score happened, but I turned it on quickly after that to see the Raiders respond to the Chiefs touchdown with a field goal of their own. When Kansas City got the ball back midway through the first, I was already beginning to get sick and frustrated with how the Rebels and Raiders were both playing. I completely lost it, however, when on a third and nineteen for the Chiefs, the Raiders allowed Jamaal Charles to catch a screen pass and run the pass thirty-nine yards for another touchdown, his second one of the day.

Immediately after Charles’ second touchdown against the Raiders I turned the TV off and threw the remote across the room. I then proceeded to go into my room, and I laid in my bed starring at the ceiling. I was so disappointed. I thought this was going to be the Rebels year, but the second touchdown for Charles all but put the nail in the Rebels season coffin. By the end of the Raiders- Chiefs game, Jamaal Charles scored five touchdowns and sixty-two fantasy points. His sixty-two-point performance was one of the best in fantasy football history. What made Charles’ performance sting, even more, was the fact that Charles scored five touchdowns against my favorite NFL team the Oakland Raiders. I was more upset with the Raiders than I was with Charles or the Rebels. I got so mad that I started taking down all the Raiders merchandise and memorabilia that I had displayed in my room and across my house. For that day and the next couple of months after, I could not physically be a fan of the Oakland Raiders. They had let me down too much.

The next day at school I arrived to several taunts and laughs from all my friends and friends of Addison Ross. They were laughing at how the Raiders allowed five touchdowns to Jamaal Charles and how the Rebels dream of a championship would not occur in 2013. Knowing the Rebels fate was almost all but decided, I replied with the comment it is not over. The Rebels still had one player left to play and it was their best player, Calvin Johnson. Johnson was scheduled to go up against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football and if Johnson went off, which was quite likely, the Rebels could come back and beat the Iowa Rebel Killers.

I had calculated in my head that Calvin Johnson needed to have fifty-four fantasy points in this game if the Rebels wanted to move on to Yuma Bowl V. If he scored fifty-four points the Rebels would win by one point, making it the greatest comeback in not just Rebels history, but fantasy football history as well. All the people I talked to that day told me I was crazy to think Calvin Johnson was going to score fifty-four points. I knew it was a longshot, but if any player on the Rebels was going to do it, it was Calvin Johnson.

I did not watch the Monday Night Football game that week as I was too nervous. I also knew if I watched the game and Calvin Johnson was underperforming to my high expectations, I would get extremely upset and probably break something. So, to prevent this from occurring I decided to watch something else on my Monday night. It was a good thing that I didn’t watch as Calvin Johnson was indeed underperforming to my high expectations of him. He ended the game with thirteen fantasy points and the California Rebels’ 2013 season came to a close with a 159- 119 loss to the eventual Yuma Bowl Champion Iowa Rebel Killers.

All the pieces and situations seemed to line up for the Rebels in 2013. I really believed that during the team’s six-game winning streak in the regular season, the Rebels and myself had finally figured it out. We had the winning formula and a championship was on the horizon. It would all be for not and the Rebels would once again end a December empty-handed. The season was not a complete loss as team head coach Matthew Nevers ended up winning the first-ever Yuma Scorpions’ Coach of the Year honors. Matthew gladly accepted the award, but deep-down Nevers felt empty inside. His team had come up short and it was up to him to deliver a championship in 2014. It was time to finally finish the playoff race.