Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – There was no wild celebration for Liberty High after wrapping up a 7-2 regular season with a win over Clinton last week.

The fact Liberty High players and coaches had to wait a few hours following their 56-0 week-nine win over the River Kings to learn they were officially in the Class 3A playoffs limited the post-game festivities a bit.

Mostly the lack of jubilation for the first playoff berth in program history is simple – this Liberty High team wants more than one extra game this season.

“We said on Friday when we knew we got in to the playoffs we don’t want this to be the end,” Liberty High senior offensive lineman Alec Boldt said. “We are playing to keep playing, we don’t want just one more game we want four more.”

There is no question the Lightning have had plenty reason to celebrate this season.

A year after going 3-6 during its inaugural varsity campaign last fall the Lightning have enjoyed one of the top turnarounds in the state this fall in year two.

Liberty High flipped its district record from 1-4 last year to 4-1 while earning the first playoff spot in program history and will face second-ranked Solon (9-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.

“It all starts in the weight room,” Liberty High senior linebacker and running back Kaleb Williams said. “Everyone showed up in the summer over three or four years and now we are finally seeing the end product. We put a lot of belief into lifting and working very hard in practice.”

Every coach likes to tout the weight room work as a reason for success.

For a Liberty High team that ranks third in Class 3A in rushing offense at 273 yards per game the increased strength and size from another year of weight room work has been key in the Lightning turnaround.

“The kids understand that all of the work they put in the weight room shows up on Friday night’s the way we play football,” Liberty High coach Jeff Gordon said. “We aren’t a seven-on-seven flag football team. We are going to go in there and squat and go line up in the I formation when we get off the bus and we are going to hit and see what happens.”

In its debut season last fall Liberty High showed glimpses of what it could be on offense averaging 198 yards per game on the ground.

Behind the duo of Williams and junior workhorse Max Tafolla and a veteran offensive line led by Boldt the Lightning have taken their power run game prowess to another level.

Liberty High has rushed for more than 210 yards in every game but one this season while averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

“I think the guys have bought into what we are,” Gordon said. “We try to highlight what we do well and try to eliminate what we don’t do so well.”

What the Lightning have done better than almost everyone in Class 3A this season is run the football.

Tafolla leads the way with 1,052 yards in eight games while Williams has added 829 yards while averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

It’s no surprise what Liberty High wants to do on offense. The Lightning have attempted the fourth fewest passes in Class 3A at 77 and run the ball 84 percent of the time this season.

“I think it’s part of our identity as a team especially being an offensively lineman that we pride ourselves on being physical and being able to run the ball like that,” Boldt said. “That’s a big part of our game.”

As important as the running game has been to the success for Liberty high this season the belief from the Lightning players has been an even bigger key.

No one wavered following the three-win season last fall.  

“From day one coach as told us that we could get here and that we would be a good football team,” Boldt said. “I think we all just bought in so this isn’t a surprise to us.”

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