JIM MILLER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL | Liberty's Chris Smith eludes a Green Valley tackler on Friday night. The Patriots topped 400 yards rushing in a 34-14 win over the Gators.
POSTED: Friday September 25, 2009
Liberty 14 0 13 7–34
Lib—T. Tai 4 run (Stone kick).
Lib—Toalei 9 run (Stone kick).
Lib—Kapeli 47 run (Stone kick).
GV—Hardy 6 pass from Corbett (Kohorst kick).
PASSING—Green Valley, Corbett 8-11-0 79, McKay 3-10-1 65. Liberty, S. Tai 0-4-0 0, Smith 1-2-0 19, Knepp 1-2-0 22.
RECEIVING—Green Valley, Hardy 5-55, Mielcarek 3-41, Corbett 2-54, Lopez 1-14. Liberty, Norris 2-41.
Daylight might be hard to see through No. 9 Liberty’s offensive line, but the group certainly created plenty of it Friday night for the Patriots’ running backs.
Liberty opened Southeast Division play by running through Green Valley, piling up 402 rushing yards in a 34-14 home victory. The Patriots (3-1, 1-0) have now won their last three games.
Liberty put on a powerful display in the opening nine minutes with its rushing attack. With its linemen winning the point of attack, Liberty drove 72 and 74 yards for touchdowns. Teu Tai scored both times, first from 14 yards and then from four.
Tai finished with 95 yards, one of three Liberty backs who piled up nearly 100 yards apiece. Freshman back Niko Kapeli led the Patriots with 133 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Chris Smith ran for 95 yards, including a 10-yard score.
Green Valley (2-2, 0-1) had a couple of chances to stay in the game in the first half, but stalled two drives in Liberty’s red zone. One ended on a botched snap on a field goal try and the second resulted in a Nolan Kohorst field goal miss from 32 yards.
Liberty put the game out of reach right after halftime, as Smith’s touchdown capped a quick six-play, 46-yard drive to give the Patriots a 20-0 edge just six minutes into the third quarter.
Jordan Corbett provided a bright spot for the Gators, both at quarterback and wide receiver. Corbett snagged two passes from Paul
McKay for 54 yards in the first half, then threw for 79 yards on 8-of-11 passing in the second half; that included a 6-yard scoring pass to Cameron Hardy in the fourth quarter.
Hardy finished with five catches for 55 yards.
After all these years of playing against Green Valley, Liberty has finally beat the Gators. Up to now, the GV coaches have been "professional". But this past Friday night, I lost respect for several of the GV coaches. If you are a coach, you have to learn how to take the losses with the wins. I've never seen the Gators play a dirty game against the Patriots until this past Friday night. Upon seeing that and hearing what was said by GV coaches after the game, I see now that the players have little to no examples of leadership at Green Valley. It's hard to believe that a school and a team with such an inspirational history can sink to playing dirty, being poor sportsman, and crybaby coaches! Every dog has its day...9/25/09 was Liberty's day. Teach your players better than what you displayed last Friday. And then speak up when we're face to face! Don't walk of Freedom Field mumbling threats and expletives that you weren't man enough to say in our face! GO PATRIOTS!
You'll get'em next time. I believe in you GATORS. GO GVHS. I love you bro #52
Wowzers! Liberty beat Green Valley are you serious! Hahaha...Thats what one of the Green Valley coaches was thinking as well. He was also heated at the fact that the Patriots tried to score another TD in the final seconds. Hey "WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND" when everyone was running up the score on Liberty no one complained. Now the tables have turned and everyone is crying Bloody Murder....I'm Just Saying!!!!
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