By Jim Workman
Coming into the contest with a No. 15 rating, Liberty needed a win Friday to stay within striking distance of a playoff berth.
The Raiders posted a 14-7 victory over Shady Spring, but it wasn’t easy.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said Liberty coach Jeff Alexander. “They played us tough. We were both fighting for our playoff life. We are just happy to come out on top.”
Liberty improves to 6-3, and will wrap up its regular season next week at Wyoming East.
Shady Spring was rated No. 18 this week with a 5-4 mark. The loss ended the year at 5-5 and eliminated the Tigers from playoff consideration.
“We’ll have to do much better than this to give ourselves a chance,” Alexander added. “We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot. But I’m pleased with the way that we stuck it out and played hard.”
“We were down 7-6 for what seemed to be an eternity,” said Liberty senior Jamie Newman. “We just couldn’t find a way to put it in the end zone. I threw an interception in the end zone (with 1:13 left in the second quarter). I was kicking myself over that. It was a fight to get back into field position most of the night.
“We would have probably been out (of the playoffs) with a loss,” Newman added. “Shady is a good team. With their five wins, that will help shoot us up in the ratings a bit. We needed this one. We needed to clinch a spot. It was an ugly win, but a win is a win.”
Newman led a 10-play, 65-yard Raider drive to open the game, capped by his 3-yard TD run. The PAT kick attempt sailed wide right however, so Liberty led 6-0.
Shady Spring took a 7-6 lead in the second quarter when quarterback Josh Weeks connected with Will Ort for a 31-yard TD pass. Jarred Stover’s PAT kick gave the Tigers a point advantage with 3:36 left until halftime.
Trailing in the fourth, Liberty needed a big play and received one from junior defensive back Michael Muovich.
Muovich stepped in front of a Weeks pass at the Raider 40 and ran it back 45 yards to give Liberty excellent field position, and more importantly, momentum that it had lacked.
Three plays later, Newman tossed a 12-yard TD pass to Luke Hodge and followed it up with a PAT pass to Muovich to give the Raiders a 14-7 lead with 7:43 remaining in the game.
“The momentum turned when Michael picked off that pass and ran it back into the red zone,” said Newman. “That really helped us. That gave us a spring that led to the (go-ahead) score.”
It proved to be all that Liberty needed, but it almost slipped away.
On Shady Spring’s final possession, Weeks threw up a fourth-and-12 pass from the Liberty 15 to the end zone. But the ball bounced out of his intended receiver’s hands and fell to the turf harmlessly.
“That gave us a real scare,” Newman admitted.
Liberty simply ran the final 1:05 off the clock to seal the win.
“There was a lot of emotion with it being Senior Night,” Alexander said. “We weren’t as focused as we should have been. But we’ll take it. I think we’ll be in (the playoffs) but I’d still like to move up a little bit (in the ratings).”
Newman led all rushers with 146 yards on 29 carries.
Ort grabbed five passes for 93 yards.
— E-mail: jworkman@
register-herald.com
Liberty 14, Shady Spring 7
SS (6-3) 0 7 0 0 — 7
L (5-5) 6 0 0 8 — 14
First Quarter
L: Jamie Newman 3 run (kick failed) 8:07
Second Quarter
SS: Will Ort 31 pass from Josh Weeks (Jarred Stover kick) 3:36
Fourth Quarter
L: Luke Hodge 12 pass from Newman (Michael Muovich pass from Newman) 7:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — SS: Weeks 22-(-1), Starner 4-24, Wilburn 6-30. L: Newman 29-146, Muovich 2-12, Long 1-0, Wright 1-3, O’Meara 1-1, Turner 2-(-6).
PASSING — SS: Weeks 10-17-1, Bragg 0-1-0. L: Newman 7-17-1.
RECEIVING — SS: Ort 5-93, Severt 3-20, Wilburn 2-18, Lilly 1-13. L: Muovich 3-33, Hodge 2-29, Collins 2-28.
TURNOVERS — SS: 1. L: 1.
