Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – In its first season playing Class 5A football Liberty High got a crash course in what it takes to compete against the top programs in the state.

Liberty High went 4-5 a year ago while learning the ropes in 5A against a schedule that featured five games against 5A playoff opponents in a span of six weeks.

The Lightning learned last season it could compete at the largest class in the state.

Liberty High also was taught what it takes to turn last year’s close losses into wins this fall and hopefully the first 5A playoff appearance in program history.

“We have to finish,” first-year head coach Scott Chandler said. “If felt like last year the first thing that went wrong we wanted to say ‘oh that’s it’. This year we know we have to finish.”
Liberty High was close in its debut season in 5A.

The Lightning led at halftime in two of their five losses and was tied with 5A quarterfinalist Ankeny at the half.

Liberty High was outscored 82-26 in the second half of those three games combined.

“We have to finish the game,” Liberty High senior Owen Drapeaux said. “Last year we played with all those teams for a half but we didn’t finish the game. This year we have to finish and I think that’s something we are going to be able to do better.”

Finishing has been a constant emphasis under Chandler who enters his first season as head coach after spending the previous two seasons as offensive coordinator.

Chandler hasn’t just talked about finishing games and playing better in the second half but finishing drives and finishing plays.

“We’ve talked about our mentality and wanting to finish the game, finish a drive off, finish the play,” Chandler said. “Last year we’d get to the red zone and not finish a drive off. Defensively finishing every play with as many hats to the ball as we can get. Finish is one of those words that we emphasis.”

Liberty High faces the same challenging schedule this season starting with a season-opening home matchup with West High, a team that outscored the Lightning 21-7 in the second half of a 35-28 win.

The Lightning return six senior starters from last year’s team that saw those tough late-game loses first-hand.

“You can always get a good start and be comfortable but as soon as you get comfortable against those good teams they are going to punch back,” Liberty High senior Sutton Koller said. “We have to learn how to punch and then punch back. We have to punch back all year this year.”

Koller (5-11, 175) and Drapeaux (6-1, 210) return at running back after combining to account for 847 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns and 919 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

Senior receivers Dallas Miller (5-11, 170) and Collin Decker (6-3, 206) are both back after combining for 86 receptions for 1,219 yards and 14 touchdowns last season.

“We have a lot of energy this year,” Miller said. “We are going to play physical but we are going to play fast and we have a lot of playmakers.”

The question on offense is at quarterback where the Lightning must replace two-year starter Graham Beckman who threw for better than 5,000 yards and 59 touchdowns over the past two seasons.

“We have few guys vying for the spot right now, it’s pretty open and we will see,” Chandler said of the quarterback spot.

Liberty High lost its top eight tacklers from last season but returns senior defensive end Ethan Barber (6-0, 225) and has a number of players ready to take on larger role this season after getting experience a year ago.

Senior linebackers Nathan Burnett and Mason Waterbury and senior defensive end Korbin Howard along with senior defensive Evan Colsch all should take on key roles.

“We lost a ton on the defense but I think this year we are going to be really physical on defense,” Koller said. “We are losing a lot of guys but I think we have a lot of guys that have been waiting for this moment and are going to step in and take advantage of their opportunities.

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