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Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Kaleb Williams had a night to remember on Friday and it had little to do with rushing yards, touchdowns or tackles.

Williams special night had everything to do with who those stats were for.

Playing in front of his eight-year-old cousin Aidan Williams who is battling cancer, Williams rushed for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns to lead Liberty High to a 27-22 win over Mid-Prairie.

“Tonight was really special because everything I did out there was for Aidan,” Williams said. “I can’t explain it. It’s better than anything I have ever felt. I am just so thankful.”

Even before the game kicked off Friday had a special meaning for Williams and his family.

The second home game in program history, Friday’s contest was dubbed a “Purple Out” and dedicated to raising financial and emotional support for families of children battling life threatening disease.

That cause is one that is close to Williams. 

“We’ve been planning for them to come for about two weeks and once I found out that my cousins were coming I broke down in tears,” Williams explained. “This week of preparation was like no other. I was practicing hard, working my butt off and when game night came I was in the locker room getting dressed and I just sat there in silence just thinking about how grateful I am God gave me the ability to play football.”

Once things kicked off on Friday the elder Williams put on quite a show for his young guest.

Williams surpassed his rushing total from the first three games combined going for 206 yards on a career-high 32 carries.

The 5-foot-7, 159-pound junior entered the game with 24 carries for 161 yards on the season.

“I think he found some extra juice inside of his body because he understands that this is just a game,” Liberty High coach Jeff Gordon said. “It was a very emotional night for Kaleb, so I was just really happy the way it turned out.”

Williams had 108 yards on 20 carries in the second half, capping a pair of long Lightning touchdown drives with 2-yard scoring runs as Liberty High rallied from a 16-13 halftime deficit.

“We kept pounding and on defense we started to pressure them more and we executed really well,” Williams said. “We kept pounding we didn’t give up and that’s why we came out with a victory.”

It looked like the rout was on early as Liberty High (2-2) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and led 13-0 just more than five minutes into the game.

Mid-Prairie (0-4) had other ideas.

The Golden Hawks got Justin Schwartz touchdown runs and two-point conversions on back-to-back possessions to take a 16-13 lead into the half.

Liberty High changed the momentum quickly after intermission.

The Lightning defense forced Mid-Prairie to go 3-and-out on its first possession of the third quarter.

Liberty High followed with a 15-play, 62-yard touchdown drive that took 6:21 off the clock and was capped by a 2-yard Williams.

“I’m proud of their fight,” Gordon said. “They got knocked on the canvas there in the second quarter and they had a decision to make at halftime, pack it in and take it or come out and at least fight and who knows what is going to happen but I was just proud of them.”

Williams carried nine times for 49 yards on the 15-play drive that featured 15 consecutive running plays.

His 2-yard touchdown run put Liberty High up 20-16 with 3:43 left in the third quarter.

“I knew I could do it I just didn’t expect to do it like that,” Williams said. “I am just so happy for my team. I could not do this without my lineman, my quarterback, my wide receivers.

Williams helped Liberty High put the game away in the fourth quarter.

He carried 10 times for 53 yards on a game-clinching 13-play, 80-yard march that ended with his second 2-yard touchdown run of the game.

The scoring drive featured all running plays, took 6:16 off the clock and gave Liberty High a 27-16 lead with 1:50 left in the game.

“Every single person on the team contributed tonight and I’m so happy for all of them,” Williams said. “I’m happy for everyone.”

The teams combined to complete just 4-of-24 passes and each ran the ball more than 40 times.

Liberty High finished 274 rushing yards as Jack Ankenbauer added 70 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

Schwartz was the workhorse for Mid-Prairie rushing for 160 yards on 38 carries and adding a 10-yard touchdown reception with 1:01 left in the game.

Of the 228 total yards for Mid-Prairie 174 came on the ground.

“Hats off to them, coach (Pete) Cavanagh is a great coach and it was pretty much like playing ourselves,” Gordon said. “They were smashing it down out throats and we were trying to get a couple of yards running at them so I am just really proud of the team for their belief.”

                                    ICL                 MP

First downs                21                    15

Rushes-yards             56-274          43-174

Comp-Att-Int             1-12-0               3-12-0

Passing yards             71                   54

Total yards                 345                   228

Punts-Avg.                 1-35                 3-47

Fumbles-lost               1-0                  1-1

Penalties-yards          2-21                 4-41

Liberty High              0   16  0  6  –  22

Mid-Prairie               13   0   7  7  –  27

ICL – Kelby Telander 71 pass from Drake Woody (Ryan Nugent kick)  

ICL – Jack Ankenbauer 6 run (Run failed)  

MP – Justin Schwartz 1 run (Brad Tornow run)

MP – Schwartz 17 run (Schwartz rush)

ICL – Kaleb Williams 2 run (Nugent kick)

ICL – Williams 2 run (Nugent kick)

MP – Schwartz 10 pass from Tornow (Pass failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICL:  Kaleb Williams 32-206, Jack Ankenbauer 14-70, Max Tafolla 7-21, Telander 1-6, Drake Woody 2-(-29). MP: Justin Schwartz 38-160, Brad Tornow 2-10, Grant Boyse 3-4.

PASSING – ICL: Drake Woody 1-12-0 71. MP: Brad Tornow 3-11-0 54, Justin Schwartz 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – ICL: Kelby Telander 1-71. MP: Justin Schwartz 2-14, Grant Boyse 1-40.

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