Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High has been searching for complementary football.

Through four games, the Lightning had posted dazzling offensive numbers, but a lack of consistency on defense turned nearly every contest into a shootout.

Liberty might have found some balance Friday night.

“It was huge,” junior tight end/linebacker Landon Bell said after Class 5A No. 7 Liberty outlasted Cedar Rapids Prairie, 26-21, in a District 6 game at Liberty High School. “Our offense kind of struggled a little bit more tonight and obviously, the defense having to back us up was huge. Coach (Scott) Chandler said before this, ‘A good offense wins games. A good defense wins championships.’ That is what happened here.”

Prior to Friday, Liberty High (4-1, 2-0 District 6) had allowed over 37 points per contest.

But against Prairie, the Lightning surrendered less than 300 total yards, forced three turnovers and limited the Hawks to just seven points until there was less than four minutes left in the game.

“Amazing,” Liberty High senior tailback/defensive back Sutton Koller. “Defense wins championships. Offense has to step up. Playing like this with a better offense, I don’t know who can beat us.”

Koller collected his second interception of the season midway through the fourth quarter, then took a short forward pitch from junior quarterback Reese Rettig and tip-toed 39 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown that extended the Liberty lead to 26-7 with 6:15 to go.

“I didn’t hear a whistle right away,” Koller said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m in. I’m good.’ Let’s take it.”

Koller finished with four receptions for 99 yards and two scores, including a 30-yarder in the second quarter that helped the Lightning to a 20-7 halftime lead.

Liberty High senior tailback/linebacker Owen Drapeaux helped his team to an early 14-0 lead with two touchdown runs in the first quarter.

“That gave us a lot of room to play better on defense,” Drapeaux said. “It gave us a lot of confidence going in there. When our offense is playing like that, we can put our defense in a better position.”

On defense, Drapeaux recovered a fumble and collected a sack.

Prairie (2-3, 0-1) scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes to tighten the final margin.

Liberty visits Ankeny next week.

“We can improve in all three phases,” Chandler said. “That’s what’s exciting about our team. We’re just scratching the surface of our potential right now. I’ve got a group of guys that are committed to getting better and they come out and work hard.”

CRP                 ICL

First Downs                  18                     7

Rushes-yards                35-109              25-73

Comp-Att-Int                 20-31-1             14-21-0

Passing yards               180                   155

Total yards                    289                   228

Punts-avg.                    3-29.3               5-43.6

Fumbles-lost                 3-2                    1-1

Penalties-yards             3-19                  9-65

CR Prairie                   0    7   0   14  –  21

Liberty High             14    6   0    6   –  26

ICL – Owen Drapeaux 2 run (Collin Weis kick)

ICL – Drapeaux 25 run (Weis kick)

CRP – Denzil Green 28 pass from Wyatt Eash (Junior Boxa kick)

ICL – Sutton Koller 30 pass from Reece Rettig (kick failed)

ICL – Koller 39 pass from Rettig (kick failed)

CRP – Quinton Alexander 5 run (Boxa kick)

CRP – Drew Bennis 28 pass from Eash (Boxa kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – CRP: BJay Bush Jr. 17-82, Wyatt Eash 9-(-15), Quinton Alexander 6-31, Talan Jackson 3-11. ICL: Sutton Koller 3-16, Owen Drapeaux 12-59, Reece Rettig 8-9, Dallas Miller 1-(-10), Charles Roberts 1-(-1).

PASSING – CRP: Wyatt Eash 20-31-1 180. ICL: Reece Rettig 14-21-0 155.

RECEIVING – CRP: Talan Jackson 1-6, Quinton Alexander 1-4, Denzil Green 8-78, Drew Bennis 7-70, Max Schwieger 3-22. ICL: Dallas Miller 8-50, Sutton Koller 4-99, Evan Colsch 1-2, Jordan Schroeder 1-4.

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