Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High football coach Scott Chandler says of fourth down, “It’s just another down.”

Kind of like Shohei Otani is “just another ballplayer.”

Liberty High scored two first-half touchdowns on fourth-down plays, one of which was fourth-and-20, and used a Dallas Miller interception return for a touchdown to cap the night in defeating Ankeny 21-13 Friday in a 5A playoff quarterfinal.

Liberty High (10-1) earned a trip to the semifinals for the first time in school history, touching off a wild celebration with fellow students on the Lightning turf.

“(It means) everything, honestly,” senior receiver Collin Decker said. “We’ve been working so hard in the offseason. It’s been ever since the end of last season, in the weight room 6 a.m. every day and just grinding. It’s everything we’ve been hoping for.

“I think it’s our attitude. We’re just really wanting it more this year.”

“I’m just so proud of this team,” senior Sutton Koller said. “From where we came… The defense struggled at the beginning of the year so badly. We were giving up like 50 points a game. We made some adjustments and put some different people out there, and now we’re stopping people for seven points a game or 13 points a game.”

Liberty High plays Southeast Polk (7-4) at 7 p.m. Friday at the UNI-Dome in one semifinal. West Des Moines Dowling plays West Des Moines Valley in the other semifinal.

But about those fourth-down plays… Liberty’s first possession of the game came after its defense forced a three-and-out punt.

Ankeny never punted in the teams’ first meeting, a 28-21 Liberty victory in week 7.

The Bolts got great field position, starting at their own 44.

They converted three third-down attempts and reached the Hawks’ 9-yard line.

But Liberty found itself fourth-and-goal from the 4 and took a timeout.

Chandler delved deep into his playbook and had a double option up his sleeve.

Quarterback Reece Rettig pitched the ball to Miller, who ran right and drew the defense.

As he was about to be buried, Miller pitched the ball to Sutton Koller, who squirted through what was left of the defense and into the end zone.

“It’s a play we’ve worked on,” Rettig said. “Coach Chandler trusts us to run everything, to know what we’re talking about. The more we know, we can see it on film; the more we run it the more trust he has in us to run crazy plays like that.”

Koller said the team has practiced the play, but he didn’t think they had run it in a game before.

“I kept my distance from Dallas Miller. He pitched it, and I’m like ‘Wow,’” Koller said. “Great scheme and of course that play is going to work.”

Ankeny tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter on a 77-yard drive culminating in a 17-yard touchdown pass from Luke Anderson to Owen Fischer.

With three minutes left in the half Liberty High took possession at its 35.

A 47-yard run by Rettig down the right side gave the Bolts the ball at the Hawks’ 18. But three plays left Liberty High with fourth-and-20 at the 28.

Timeout to see if Chandler has a fourth-and-20 play up the other sleeve.

Rettig dropped back under fierce pressure and heaved the ball into the end zone where he was confident that Decker would find it.

“I ran a post route over the middle, and I went up and grabbed it,” Decker said. “I had to really concentrate on grabbing it and maintaining it through the ground contact so I didn’t drop it.”

“I threw it up, and I said, ‘Collin, go get it,’” Rettig said. “He’s so good, and he doesn’t get enough credit. If they don’t double-cover him we’re going to throw it up to him.

“We knew we’d have one-on-one, and we knew he’s a bigger guy (6-foot-3). He’s going to go get the ball.”

“He does that every single day in practice; every single day,” Koller said of Decker.

That fourth-down magic is a matter of trust between players and coaches according to Rettig, and that started with off-season work.

“We’re confident in our base play, and we can move off of that,” he said.

“Honestly our coach has a great scheme set up for us,” Decker said. “He’s not afraid to make these big decisions for us coming down to the wire. We have full faith in him.”

“I don’t know how many times we’ve gone for it on fourth down, but it’s a lot,” Chandler said. “It’s just another down. When you decide to be aggressive which, when we started, we decided we were going to be aggressive. It’s just another opportunity for our guys to make a play.”

Decker’s play and the resultant 14-7 halftime lead was a key.

“That was huge,” Koller said. “That one felt great, and we were confident going into half.”

The first game between the teams was closely contested and featured a lot of offense.

Friday the defenses reasserted themselves, and it was a grind for both sides.

“We knew they were going to run the ball, and our defense just really stepped up tonight,” Decker said.

“The defensive line and the linebackers made plays, tackles,” Miller said. “The DBs did our job and contained them. I’m just so happy. I’m really proud of these boys.”

Ankeny was held to 202 total yards compared to 348 in the first game.

Liberty High’s rushing total was better than the first time, but the Bolts passed for only 66 yards compared to 205 in the first game.

“All the credit is due to our defense in this game,” Rettig said. “Our defense stepped up tonight; it’s amazing.”

Koller said Ankeny’s defense was “totally different” this time around.

“It was tough, man, we had to fight for every single yard,” he said.

Liberty High led 14-7 going into the final minutes.

Ankeny converted a fourth down and reached its 41-yard line with about 2 minutes left. But then Miller took center stage with his 45-yard interception and streak down the sideline.

“I was about five yards away from him,” Chandler said. “It was like slow motion in the movies. He made a great break on the ball. He was not going to be denied after he caught that thing.”

“It felt good; it felt like a movie when I caught it. It’s just amazing,” Miller said. “It was like a go but down about 10 yards. They ran it about 20 times on us. I knew I had to break on it, and I did. It was a blur. I only saw the end zone and ran as hard as I could.”

Miller’s score with 1:58 left bumped the lead to 21-7 and iced it.

Ankeny (6-5) scored a touchdown with no time left after driving 56 yards.

“I was like ‘You just called game,’” Koller said of Miller’s pick-6. “I couldn’t wait to celebrate with him.”

                                                ANK        ICL

First downs                        13              14

Rushing-yards                    25-82        37-174

Comp-att-int                      16-24-1    12-17-0

Passing-yards                     120           66

Total yards                          187           240

Punts-avg.                          4-35          1-38

Fumbles-lost                      0                1-0

Penalties-yards                 4-35          3-30

Ankeny           0  7  0  6  –  13

Liberty High 7  7  0  7  –  21

ICL – Sutton Koller 4 run (Collin Weis kick)

ANK – Owen Fischer 17 pass from Luke Anderson (Ryan Harrington kick)

ICL – Collin Decker 28 pass from Reece Rettig (Weis kick)

ICL – Dallas Miller 45 interception return (Weis kick)

ANK – Evan Irlmeier 1 pass from Anderson (time expired, no kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING:  Ankeny – Daniel Larmie 15-61, Caden Henkes 6-20, Luke Anderson 3-17, team 1-(-16). Liberty – Owen Drapeaux 18-91, Reece Rettig 8-61, Sutton Koller 10-28, team 1-(-6).

PASSING: Ankeny – Anderson 16-24-1-120. Liberty—Rettig 12-16-0-66, Dallas Miller 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Ankeny – Owen Fischer 5-52, Henkes 2-14, Nathan Richmond 1-8, Andrew Brandhorst 1-8, Evan Irlmeier2-5, team 2-10. Liberty – Collin Decker 6-44, Koller 4-27, Dallas Miller 1-4, Drapeaux 1-(-9).

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.