Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – During its first year of varsity football last fall almost everything was new for Liberty High.

New uniforms, new stadium, new level of play and new opponents.

You name it, it was new for the Lightning.

After posting a 3-6 record in its varsity debut campaign Liberty High some of the newness has worn off for Liberty High entering this season.  

“Last year we had a lot of distractions, everything was new,” Liberty High senior Carter Fedeler said. “This year we are getting into the groove of things and everything is getting to be more normal and we can focus more on football and our team.”

Year two has brought one new thing for the Lightning, expectations.

The roster from last season’s three-win team returns nearly intact. Liberty High is bigger, stronger and now has a year of experience playing varsity football.  

After playing last season without a senior on its roster Liberty High has 21 on its roster this season.

“Definitely within our program there are more expectations this year, we don’t have that crutch saying we don’t have any seniors,” senior lineman Harrison Voigt said. “We are a real, legitimate team and we have to perform or its on us.”

No one was quite sure what to make of the Lightning leading into last season.

The first varsity season ended up as a solid starting point for the program with wins over Waterloo East, Mid-Prairie and a 42-21 road win at Clinton in the season finale.

There were struggles that came with a roster filled entirely of first-year players but the positive is now Liberty High has one of the most experienced rosters in Class 3A with every key player returning.

“It was a blessing and a curse,” Voigt said of the first season. “Last year we struggled a little bit with experience but this year we get literally everyone back.”

The experience and added depth with another class of upperclassmen in the program has already began to show.

“What’s nice is we are starting to have competition in practice for the first time,” Liberty High head coach Jeff Gordon said. “Guys didn’t have to fight for playing time as much before but the competition has been great this season.

Along with game experience the Lightning have had another year of continuity as a program.

“It’s just another year practicing with everybody here, playing together all the time,” senior Ben Kruger said. “It’s the same team from last year, we are all back and we’ve been working all summer.”

Liberty High brings back talent as well.

Senior quarterback Drake Woody threw for 611 yards last season and returns to lead a backfield that features a trio of 400-yard rushers from a year ago.

Jack Ankenbauer, Max Tafolla and Kaleb Williams combined to run for 1,602 yards and 16 touchdowns in a running back timeshare.

Ben Houselog returns after catching a team-high 12 passes for 188 yards.

In all seven players that earned all-district honors return led by first-team picks Williams, Tafolla and Dawson Zimmerman.

“There are no excuses there is no cop out,” Gordon said. “I think too many times we had that crutch of patting ourselves on the back. What our expectations should be should be higher than what anybody else thinks of us.”

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