Liberty leaps past Brookfield to stay unbeaten
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BROOKFIELD -- A handful of plays made the difference, but they certainly made quite a bit of difference, in Liberty's 28-8 road win over Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Brookfield, which took an early lead but later suffered from several ill-timed penalties and mistakes against the Leopards.
"Big win for us that made us 5-0," Liberty head coach Dom Prologo said. "I thought the second half, we decided to play physical. We didn't in the first half. They kind of got after us a little bit in the first half. The second half, we turned up the physicality some, and I think that was the difference in the game."
Brookfield struck first Friday after forcing a three-and-out from Liberty in its first drive.
Following two negligible runs, Blake Hammond handed the ball off to Rico Smith, who took it inside the tackles, planted his foot in the ground and outraced everyone to the end zone for a 61-yard touchdown. With a successful two-point conversion, the Warriors took an 8-0 lead just shy of four minutes into the game.
The Leopards could not issue an immediate response, as their subsequent drive stalled near midfield before Kyran Rice dropped back to pass and threw an interception to Brookfield's Ethan Martin, who jumped to grab the ball over Jayden Gillam.
Unable to add to their lead, though, the Warriors punted it away after three plays, giving Liberty the ball at the Brookfield 42-yard line.
Despite getting favorable field position, the Leopards took their time getting into the end zone as they chipped away at the Warriors' defense on the ground. Part of the delay also stemmed from the team's biggest play of the game to that point, a 15-yard run, being negated by a penalty.
The foul, which brought back Liberty from the Brookfield 15 to the 30, also nearly upended the drive, as Dawaun Moody's pass and run attempts immediately afterward gained zero yards and set up fourth-and-nine as the first quarter came to an end.
On the first play of the second period, Moody split out wide and received the ball on a jet sweep reverse. The star back found the corner and lowered his head as he lunged toward the first down, which he narrowly earned to keep the drive going. Kavon Slocum then took the ball up the middle for a 17-yard gain, reaching the Warriors' 4, before a pair of Moody runs pushed the Leopards back to the 10-yard line.
On the next play, however, Rice faked a handoff and fired a pass to Xavier McDougald in the end zone for a touchdown. Noah Zeigler's extra point made it 8-7 with 9:52 left in the half, which saw no more scoring amid increasingly costly penalties and stout defenses.
Brookfield's first drive of the second half began flawlessly, with Smith breaking several tackles on the second play of the quarter en route to a 23-yard gain. However, once past midfield, the Warriors found little more success, and on fourth-and-short from the Liberty 45, Hammond's pass fell incomplete, turning the ball over on downs.
The Leopards capitalized on their first offensive possession of the period by methodically moving down the field with their ground attack, which was only aided by a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Brookfield to invite Liberty into the red zone.
Despite nearly costing itself a chance at a touchdown with a holding penalty that negated a 14-yard rushing touchdown by Moody, Brookfield gave the Leopards another shot at the end zone when it was whistled for roughing the kicker on what would have been a successful 32-yard field goal.
The penalty gave Liberty an automatic first down and ultimately a touchdown, which came two players later when Moody ran it in for a 5-yard score to put the Leopards ahead 14-8 with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter.
"We gotta do a better job of facing adversity," Brookfield head coach Randy Clark said. "We get punched in the mouth, and sometimes if things ain't going our way, we just don't punch them back. That's the bottom line. We just gotta face adversity, and we gotta react better than we do."
Liberty was seemingly on its way to a game-icing score as it burned up nearly half a quarter slowly advancing down the field, but the Warriors found life with 6:37 to go when Smith picked off Rice on a deep pass toward the end zone.
Penalties, though, again came back to bite Brookfield.
After getting out of the shadow of their end zone, Hammond went deep and appeared to pick up more than 40 yards on a complete pass. However, the side judge ruled Hammond to be across the line of scrimmage at the time of the pass, calling back the big play.
Moments later, Hammond punted away the ball, which settled at the Brookfield 43 until Moody, with no Warriors around, picked it up and raced past everyone for the punt return touchdown, effectively icing the contest with 3:05 to go.
"There were some penalties that were a little iffy here and there... but the referees did a nice job. They really did," Clark said. "I mean, there was a lot more holding than they actually called. We were getting held pretty good. But the bottom line is, we didn't play 48 minutes. We played 36."
Things finished on an even sweeter note for Liberty, as Richie Sly intercepted a Hammond pass to set up a 38-yard rushing touchdown by Moody with 1:16 left.
"Brookfield did a great job, had a great plan.They played a great game," Prologo said. "One of the things I'll tell you is what our kids do in June and July is different than what most programs do. And I think that shows up in the fourth quarter. And tonight, I thought it did."
Liberty, in its second season under Prologo, improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Leopards host Newton Falls next week before meeting Garfield on Oct. 2 in Garrettsville in a game that will likely decide the conference title.
"Obviously, I feel blessed and grateful that the first half went the way it did and the kids got what they earned," Prologo said. "And now, we're into the grind of the season, and we have to make sure that we stay grounded and our team continues to realize that they have to practice Monday through Thursday if they want to play the right way Friday."