It's back to business as usual for Liberty High, 35-0

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Coming off a shutout loss to first-place San Jacinto last week, Liberty High football coach Kraig Broach wasn’t sure how his players would react this week.

After suffering its first varsity loss ever and with no senior leadership to fall back on, Liberty had a short week to prepare for Perris High Thursday night. But as it turned out, Broach needn’t have worried.

Andre Skelton rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns, Anthony Ruelas and Eddie Smith each scored once, and the Bison led 28-0 at halftime on the way to a 35-0 victory over the Panthers. Liberty scored twice in the first 3:30 of the game and repeatedly broke through the Perris defense for big running gains.

So all is well with the Bison, who at 3-1 in league play (8-1 overall) are in second place in the Mountain Pass League and have locked up a CIF playoff berth. The players responded as Broach had hoped.

“I was worried about that last time we talked, how they would respond [after a 42-0 loss to San Jacinto],” Broach said. “But arguably, this was our best week of practice. I’m just really happy with the kids. They locked in and concentrated on doing what they needed to do to improve. And they did that tonight.”

It took the Bison just five plays to score on their opening drive, with Skelton racing 16 yards untouched into the end zone. Liberty got the ball right back after Perris (6-3, 1-3) fumbled it away on its first offensive play and it took only two plays for the Bison to make it 14-0 on a 25-yard TD run by Ruelas.

After the defense forced a Perris punt on the next series, Liberty was at it again. On a drive that featured a 31-yard run by Skelton and a 17-yard pass from quarterback Anthony Quinones to Smith, the Bison increased their lead to 21-0 when Smith raced 8 yards for a score.

Liberty’s final scoring drive of the first half covered six plays and 76 yards, with key plays being a 24-yard pass from Quinones to Zach Velasco and a 9-yard pass from Quinones to Skelton. Smith finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown dive.

The only scoring of the second half came on Liberty’s first offensive play, when Smith emerged from the pack to race 60 yards for the final touchdown. Reserves played most of the rest of the game.

Broach was happy that the team was able to spread the scoring opportunities around as his talented juniors continue to pile up yardage.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys who deserve opportunities,” Broach said, “so when the opportunity presents itself, they take advantage of it.”

Broach was asked whether the humbling experience of last week’s loss to San Jacinto could actually help the Bison get into the proper mindset for the game at Tahquitz next week. Tahquitz lost a wild 55-48 decision to San Jacinto when the two teams met two weeks ago.

“I hope so -- and I don’t know,” Broach said with a chuckle. “I think I’ve said 20 times before, it’s a journey. It’s up and down this year, so we’re still climbing. But we’re going to be good, and we’re trying to speed up the process.

"They’re fun. We’ve got a lot of kids who enjoy playing football, and I enjoy being around them.”