Liberty secures second in 3A KingCo with win over Mount Si
November 4, 2008
By Administrator
The Liberty High School football team was having so much fun playing on its home field, the Patriots decided they had to return.
A 51-yard touchdown pass and a defensive stop later, and they were set up to do just that.
Liberty came from behind late to pull out a thrilling 25-20 win against Mount Si Oct. 31 at home, locking up second place in KingCo 3A/2A as a result. The Patriots are scheduled to play host to North Kitsap this weekend in a Class 3A playoff qualifier. If they had lost, they would’ve been forced to travel for this weekend’s round.
“It’s huge,” Liberty head coach Steve Valach said. “We not only get to play at home, but I think going into the playoffs with momentum, instead of going in with a recovery mode, is big.”
Liberty sophomore quarterback Trey Wheeler finished 13-of-20 for 256 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Without question, his biggest throw of the night came with just 2:25 remaining.
The Patriots trailed, 20-19, but had just forced Mount Si to turn the ball over on downs. On a second-and-16 play from the Liberty 49, Wheeler found running back Chandler Jenkins on a seam down the middle of the field. Jenkins hauled in a perfect pass at about the 25-yard line and sprinted untouched the rest of the way for the score. An ensuing 2-point conversion failed, and the Patriots led 25-20.
Mount Si responded with a short rally, getting the ball to the Liberty 45 with 1:37 to play. But a fourth-down pass fell incomplete in the end zone and the ball went back to the Patriots.
“Every time we play Mount Si, it’s a war. It’s a fun football game,” Valach said. “And it wasn’t perfect tonight, but sometimes you just have to win anyway you can.”
Joshua Yea had 95 yards rushing for 15 carries to give a boost to the Patriot offense. Still, it was Wheeler who seemed to make them go all night. He converted two fourth-and-long plays in the game and managed to spread the ball around nicely. Jenkins finished with five catches for 135 yards, while Richard Crespo had six for 116.
“Trey’s a super quarterback,” Valach said. “The big thing with him is finding a rhythm for him as a player. He’s a pretty gifted football player and he can really make throws when he gets in a rhythm.”
Liberty overcame a huge night by the league’s leading rusher, as Sean Snead went for 229 yards on 25 carries. He rushed for 40 yards on the game’s opening drive, as the Wildcats went 58 yards total for a quick 7-0 lead.
Late in the first period, Dan Eck intercepted a pass and returned it to the 3, setting up a 1-yard touchdown score by Yea. The point-after was botched, and it was 7-6.
On the kickoff, a big return allowed the Wildcats to start their next drive at the Liberty 15. They scored in two plays and, after a missed extra-point attempt, led 13-6.
The Patriots managed to tie the game up right before halftime, when they went 58 yards in 12 plays and scored on another 1-yard run by Yea. Liberty faced a third-and-31 at one point in the drive, but Wheeler picked up the first down with a 20-yard completion to Jenkins and an 18-yard strike to Crespo.
The Patriots then took the opening possession of the second half 77 yards to grab their first lead. Wheeler connected with Crespo for a 37-yard gain on the drive, before the two finished it with a 5-yard hook-up for the touchdown. The extra-point attempt, however, was once again botched and the score remained 19-13.
Late in the third period, the Wildcats answered with a 77-yard touchdown run by Snead to pull ahead, 20-19.
For the Patriots, the difference in the second half was turnovers. They committed three in the first half, but none in the second half. Meanwhile, Liberty forced an interception, a lost fumble and two turnovers on downs out of the Wildcats in the second half.
“My comment at halftime was, ‘Those guys wearing Liberty out there are doing a pretty good job against offense,’” Valach said. “That’s not to take anything away from Mount Si, but we needed to quit turning the ball over and hurting ourselves.”
North Kitsap is 7-2 on the season and coming off a third-place finish in the Olympic/Western Cascade League.
Reach Reporter Ryan Piersol at 392-6434, ext. 246, or rpiersol@isspress.com.
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