Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Webster City coach Bob Howard has won more football games (364) than most people would even dream of watching.

His single wing is a throwback, but it’s a very difficult system to combat with one week to prepare.

That was Liberty’s task in a first-round 4A playoff game Friday.

“It’s pretty tough,” Liberty junior defensive lineman Dantrell Skinner said. “We tried to copy what they do (in practice), but we can’t copy it at the speed they run it.”

Howard’s team drove 80 yards in seven plays for a touchdown on its first possession with sturdy Jaxon Cherry rushing for 78 of those yards.

Liberty High’s fans could be forgiven for wondering if this curiosity of an offense was going to get the better of the Lightning’s 21^st century offense.

But on Liberty High’s sideline there was no panic; it was just a matter of adjustment.

The Lightning held the Lynx well below their season rushing average, created two timely turnovers, and put together a clutch 97-yard drive to begin the fourth quarter to vanquish the Lynx, 24-14.

The victory is Liberty High’s first in the playoffs and the significance was not lost on the Bolts and their fans, who swarmed the field in a mosh pit of celebration.

The Bolts (9-1) advance to play Carlisle (9-1) on Friday at Liberty.

Webster City finished with a 6-4 record.

“It’s awesome; it’s history,” senior captain Zach Gallagher said. “We’re pretty excited.”

What got the Lightning turned around was a defense that adjusted to the Lynx’s bunched up, confusing attack.

After giving up the long drive in the first quarter in which Cherry ran wild, carrying tacklers and leaving others grasping at his heels, the Bolts held him to 32 second-half yards.

The Lynx gained 247 yards, but they were averaging 367 per game.

“They have a really good running back running the ball, and it was kind of hard stopping him,” senior corner Amari Thigpen said. “But once we got our defense together and got situated, that’s when we started to pick it up. We had to focus. We didn’t come out the way we were supposed to. We also knew this could be our last game, so we had to get our focus.”

What were the adjustments?

“Just all 10 of us trying to get to the ball,” Skinner said. “People were getting stuck on double teams, and the D-line wasn’t getting push into the backfield. That let the runner get outside and get up the field.”

The single wing is hard enough on the D-line and linebackers who have to figure out who has the ball, but the guys in the secondary have to be sure tacklers on the runs outside because there’s no one behind them.

“We just practiced what they ran over and over,” Thigpen said. “Once I saw him going outside I attacked.”

Trailing 7-0 Liberty recovered a fumble on the Bolts’ 41-yard line and started a drive.

Graham Beckman’s perfectly placed 29-yard pass to Wyatt Williams gave the Bolts a tying score and the game remained 7-all at halftime.

Liberty’s defense stopped Webster City’s first drive at the 50.

On the second play from scrimmage Beckman again connected on a long touchdown pass, this time to Lucas Meyer for 44 yards and a 14-7 lead.

Both touchdown passes were on the money against man-to-man coverage, and the receivers were behind the defenders.

“We were kind of seeing what they were doing to us and we saw an opportunity, so I took a shot to Wyatt and Lucas and they made really good catches and put it in the end zone,” Beckman said. “When we saw that one-high look we knew we could hit them over the top.”

Liberty High’s Trey Gregoire intercepted a rare Lynx pass in Webster City territory, and the Bolts got a crucial 29-yard field goal from Hayden Saul to bump the lead to 17-7 halfway through the third quarter.

Then out of the blue Webster City seemed to recover its first-quarter mojo and drove 65 yards in five running plays for a touchdown.

Cherry ran 16 yards for the touchdown and Liberty’s lead was only 17-14.

“We had to keep our head up,” Skinner said. “We had our heads down because they scored, but we had to keep pushing through it.”

Neither team could move the ball in its next possession, but Webster City’s punt pinned the Bolts down on their 3-yard line late in the third quarter.

“Right before we went out Zach Gallagher said, ‘We’ve done this before guys,’” Beckman recalled. “We knew that we were capable of driving the ball downfield running and passing. I think it was just playing our football and not shooting ourselves in the foot. Webster City is a good team. They scouted us well.”

Liberty High put together a 97-yard touchdown drive in which Beckman converted two third downs with quarterback draws, and Owen Drapeaux ran for 58 yards on seven carries.

Liberty High led 24-14 with eight minutes left to play.

“We watched a lot of film and saw they were going to bring a lot of guys and try to pressure us, so if I can stay in the pocket and do what I can do then the QB draw was good,” Beckman said.

The drive was a thing of beauty, persistence, and confidence, and it won the game.

“We just pounded the stone,” Gallagher said. “I think our running backs, Owen Drapeaux and Trey Gregoire, they are two explosive guys.

“We knew we had to come out and push them out. We just got some big push off the ball, and that’s what we did.”

                                                   WC                  ICL

First downs                               13                    18

Rushing-yards                         43-247             34-187

Comp-att-int                           3-11-1             15-23-0

Passing-yards                          60                    127

Punts-avg.                               1-38                 2-36

Fumbles-lost                           1-1                   1-0

Penalties-yards                       2-10                 5-50

Webster City             7  0   7   0  –  14

Liberty High             7  0  10  7  –  24  

WC – Jaxon Cherry 3 run (Ty McKinney kick)

ICL – Wyatt Williams 29 pass from Graham Beckman (Hayden Saul kick)

ICL – Lucas Meyer 44 pass from Beckman (Saul kick)

ICL – Saul 29 field goal

WC – Cherry 16 run (McKinney kick)

ICL – Trey Gregoire 1 run (Saul kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – WC: Jaxon Cherry 22-163, CJ Hisler 14-65, Ty McKinney 6-22, Connor Hanson 1-(-3). ICL: Owen Drapeaux 10-93, Graham Beckman 13-81, Trey Gregoire 8-20, Garrett Gregoire 1-5, Wyatt Williams 1-(-5), Team 1-(-7).

PASSING –Webster City: McKinney 2-9-1 46, Hisler 1-2-0 14. ICL: Graham Beckman 15-23-0 127.

 

RECEIVING – WC: Hisler 1-34, Cherry 1-14, Hanson 1-12. ICL: Christian Barney 4-57, Lucas Meyer 1-44, Garrett Gregoire 4-34, Williams 3-20, Gabe Clark 1-8, Amari Thigpen 1-5, Trey Gregoire 1-(-2).

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