Liberty Eagles Defeat Houston Tigers in District Play

The Liberty Eagles went head to head against the Houston Tigers Friday Night at the Eagles Nest. Liberty had all but one of their injured players back in uniform. Jentry Acklin #17 is still out with the hip injury he received several weeks ago while catching a long pass and coming down hard.

 

Liberty finished the regular season with 7 wins and 2 losses, and finished the regular season ranked tenth in the state. They were, however, ranked fourth in the SCA District Tournament.

 

Liberty scored touchdowns on the six first half possessions and hit the locker room at half time leading 44-0. The Houston Tigers, despite their determination, were not able to score in the first half and only had 61 yards of total offense at half time.

 

The Eagles’ defense was instrumental in stopping the Tigers’ offense.  Braden Gastineau #67, Kaden Daniels #78, Lucas Barnes #79, and Devon Shoup #74 are all Seniors at Liberty, and these men are the heart and soul of the offensive and defensive squads. They provide the blocking and protection for the Quarterbacks Tyler Watts #10 and Carter Pruett #5 and for the running backs. Seniors Zeb Cornman #33, Michael Shoup #23, and  Dalton Pauly #24 each played an important and integral role in backing the D line. On nearly every run that got past the line of scrimmage, one of these three were there on the tackle along with Juniors Tyler Watts #10 and Noah Jester #8.

 

The second half started off just like the first half and ended with Houston unable to move the ball, followed by a Liberty Eagles TD.

 

Sophomore Lucas Frazier #15 helped to force a punt by breaking up a pass play on third down. Coach Kenaga decided to give some of the underclassmen some playing time and experience in the third and fourth quarters.

 

Jaden Anderson #12 came in as QB, and Cole Zimmerman #4 as wide receiver. Their first possession ended in a punt. Houston Tigers’ Bailey Hurst had a 42-yard scramble for a TD taking the score 50-6 in the fourth.

 

Noah Gulick #32 had a couple of carries for positive yards in the fourth. Tyler Watts had back-to-back games with five TDs. Watts was 18 out of 26 passes for 205 yards and had 6 rushes for 76 yards. Noah Jester had 4 receptions for 71 yards and 1 TD. Drew Ripko #7 had 4 receptions for 11 yards and 2 TDs. Kal Acklin #3 had 5 receptions for 69 yards and 1 TD. Tanner Ripko #6 had 3 receptions for 27 yards and 1 TD. Carter Pruett was 4 of 6 passing with 40 yards, 8 rushes for 55 yards and 1 TD. Lucas Frazier #15 had 6 receptions for 59 yards. The final score was Liberty 50 - Houston 6.

 

Coach Kenaga said "The boys are ready for the challenge. I think they are excited for the challenge with Catholic next Friday. We get to go play in a great facility and go to Springfield and play that number one position where we felt like we had a chance to be.  We are 8-2. Our goal each week is to go get that next one. Our goal this week is 9-2."

 

First year head Coach Brock Kenaga is looking for that next District Win in Springfield, Friday night, November 6:00 at  7pm at Springfield Catholic High School.