Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High and North Scott had one common opponent, Western Dubuque, in their non-district games.

Liberty High lost 36-30; North Scott crunched the Bobcats 45-7.

“We beat the spread,” Liberty High coach James Harris said, laughing.

Indeed they did.

The Bolts prevailed 20-16 in a game that many think is likely to decide the Class 4A District 3 race.

The Lightning were completely bottled up in the first half but came back to score 20 second-half points despite the constant rain.

They didn’t take the lead until there were just 8 minutes to play.

The potent Liberty High offense was held to three first downs, 11 yards rushing and 39 yards passing in the first half, as it fell behind 9-0.

The Lightning showed life after intermission.

“I think it was just believing in ourselves,” Liberty High quarterback Graham Beckman said.

“Our guys believed we could score,” Harris said. “We had less penalties, established the run game with the football.”

Liberty High took the second-half kickoff and marched 84 yards in 18 plays, consuming 6:14.

It wasn’t easy.

The Lancers committed three key penalties on the drive, and all three gave the Bolts a first down. When the Bolts got inside the Lancer 10 they had to convert a fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line.

And they did.

Beckman hit Christian Barney on a slant for exactly five yards, and Liberty was back in the game.

“When you have a big drive you can hold the momentum and keep coming back to score,” Beckman said.

“Coach Harris gave us a really good speech and motivated every single one of us,” Liberty’s Wyatt Williams said. “We had the intensity, and we were locked in the second half.”

“We sometimes start out slow and we really need a punch in the face, and that did it,” senior wideout Garrett Gregoire said.

North Scott responded with a TD drive, overcoming two big penalties and converting a fourth-and-two at midfield to take a 10-point lead.

But down 16-6 entering the final quarter, the Bolts were unbowed.

“Lots of people count us out; we have a chip on our shoulder so we went out and got it,” Gregoire said.

On the second play from scrimmage Beckman threw a bomb to an open Gregoire, and Gregoire raced toward the end zone, cutting back to avoid a couple tacklers and somehow retaining his balance at about the 10-yard line before scoring.

Liberty was right back in it at 16-13.

“Coach told me I had to make a play,” Gregoire said. “I make plays when they count.”

“We tried it the first half, that same exact play but to the other side,” Beckman said. “There was only one safety so we thought, hey, why not have another guy go to work with it. I kind of under-threw him, but he made the catch and scored. He made a beautiful move on the sideline and put it in the end zone.”

Then it was time for Liberty’s defense to stuff the Lancers.

After the kickoff North Scott couldn’t move the ball and had fourth-and-1 at its own 37.

The Lancers set their formation to look like they were going to go for the first down, but quarterback Kyler Gerardy dropped back to punt.

The snap was bobbled, and Gerardy was smothered by a host of Bolts at the North Scott 29.

“I’m sure they wish they would have just punted it, or let that guy run with it,” Harris said.

On the second play from scrimmage Beckman passed 24 yards to Williams down the left side for the go-ahead touchdown.

Williams was one-on-one with his defender in the rain and gathered in the pass.

“They finally called a hitch-and-go, and it worked,” Williams said. “I was just locked in and caught it.”

“I’d been throwing him those hitches all day long, and they (the defense) kept coming,” Beckman said. “We realized they bit on a couple, and we could hit him on a hitch-and-go. I saw him over the top, and he made a beautiful catch.”

The Liberty High defense took care of the final 8 minutes of the game, and the soaking wet Homecoming crowd flooded the field in celebration.

The Lightning did a much better job handling the ball in the rain than did the Lancers, who dropped a number of passes.

Even before the rain the Lancers dropped two balls that might well have been touchdowns.

“I think the rain played a big factor, cold hands…I think you just have to focus in knowing you just have to have this ball,” Beckman said.

After its subpar performance in the first half, Liberty’s offense had 10 first downs, 163 passing yards and 45 rushing yards in the second half.

And its defense made the plays when it had to.

Class 4A No. 7 Liberty is 4-1 and 1-0 in the district, while fifth-ranked North Scott is 3-2 and 0-1.

                                         NS                  ICL

First downs                15                    13

Rushes-yards             40-202             24-56

Att-Comp-Int            7-15-0             12-19-0

Passing yards             62                    202

Total yards                264                  258

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-1

Punts-avg.                  3-31                 2-34

Penalties-yds             11-95               6-51

North Scott       6  3  0    7  –  16

Liberty High    0  0  6  14  –  20

NS – Kyler Gerardy 3 run (kick failed)

NS – Liam Regan 23 field goal

ICL – Christian Barney 5 pass from Graham Beckman (Kick failed)

NS – Dylan Marti 13 pass from Gerardy (Regan kick)

ICL – Garrett Gregoire 80 pass from Beckman (Hayden Saul kick)

ICL – Wyatt Williams 24 pass from Beckman (Saul kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – NS: Kyler Gerardy 18-119, Dylan Marti 17-63, Drew Kilburg2-9, Miles Robinson 1-6, A.J. Petersen 1-5, Seth Madden 1-0. ICL: Trey Gregoire 14-45, Graham Beckman 9-7, Owen Drapeaux 1-4.

PASSING – NS: Kyler Gerardy 7-15-0 62. ICL: Graham Beckman 12-19-0 202.

RECEIVING – NS: Marti 3-27, Robertson 1-15, Cole Jennings 2-12, Kilburg 1-8. ICL: Garrett Gregoire 5-139, Wyatt Williams 3-45, Christian Barney 2-7, Trey Gregoire 1-7, Lucas Meyer 1-4.

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