Liberty puts it all together in 40-37 win over San Jacinto

A smiling coach Adam Contreras addresses his players after Liberty's big victory Friday night. (Staff photos)

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Sweet revenge.

That’s all that needed to be said Friday night after the Liberty High football team scored a 40-37 victory over San Jacinto in a game for first place in the Mountain Pass League.

Last season, San Jacinto handed Liberty its only loss of the regular season – by a whopping score of 42-0. In essence, it was a message from the Tigers that as good as the Bison were with a team including no seniors, they weren’t quite ready to play with the big boys. Three weeks later, Liberty lost to Elsinore in the first round of the playoffs.

But look how far the Bison have come.

With only an overtime nonleague defeat at Del Norte in the loss column, Liberty is now 7-1 this season and in first place in league play at 3-0. And it was the way the Bison did it Friday night against a tough San Jacinto team (4-4) that had the players and coaches celebrating after the game.

“They said we couldn’t do it!” head coach Adam Contreras screamed in the middle of a crowd of happy players after the game. According to some on the Liberty sideline, San Jacinto players had been talking smack all week. But the Tigers had nothing to brag about after this one, which included:

-- Anthony Ruelas’ 154 yards rushing and a touchdown.

-- Andre Skelton’s 86 yards rushing and a touchdown.

-- Eddie Smith’s 22-yard touchdown run.

-- A 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Anthony Quinones to Skelton.

-- A 1-yard touchdown run by Matthew Ramirez.

-- Tough defense, including two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

-- Field goals of 37 and 25 yards by Thiago Scapinelli – the last kick, coming with 4:25 to play, becoming the difference.

“I’m just proud of our guys for responding,” Contreras said. “This was definitely circled on our calendar, and our guys showed up tonight.”

Liberty led 23-14 at halftime, thanks to Scapinelli’s 37-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining at the end of a 65-yard drive. Skelton intercepted a San Jacinto pass on the final play of the half to keep the lead intact.

San Jacinto pulled close at 23-21 by driving 80 yards to score on a 6-yard run by Malachi Brown opening the third quarter. Liberty responded with a 73-yard scoring drive of its own, capped by a 22-yard touchdown run in which Smith broke several tackles on his way to the end zone.

Following an interception by the Bison’s Jeremiah McClure, Liberty needed only four plays to score again on Skelton’s 15-yard TD run for a 37-21 lead. But Brown kept San Jacinto in the game by running 32 yards for a touchdown moments later, cutting the deficit to 37-29 following a 2-point conversion run.

Scapinelli’s second field goal of the game gave Liberty a 40-29 lead, but things were just getting interesting. San Jacinto's Brown followed up a 57-yard run with a 10-yard TD scamper, and another two-point conversion pulled the Tigers to within a field goal at 40-37 with 3:48 remaining.

An onside kick was recovered by the Bison’s Quinones, and the home team’s mission was to keep the ball on the ground and kill as much of the remaining time as possible. But Liberty was stuck on fourth down and two yards to go with 2:42 remaining, setting up perhaps the play of the game.

Quinones led the Bison back on the field to go for it, and a delayed snap count pulled the Tigers offside, giving Liberty a first down. From there, using good clock management, the Bison were able to run out the clock for the victory.

“We actually started changing our snap count last week, just to prepare for moments like this,” Contreras said. “Coach (offensive coordinator Kraig) Broach is great at what he does, to prepare the guys for these types of moments. It was awesome to see our guys keep it together.”

Scapinelli was all smiles after the game.

“Early in the season I missed a game-winning field goal,” he said, referring to the loss at Del Norte. “I’m so happy I was able to help the team get this win with two field goals. It was the best game of my career."

Quinones acknowledged hearing of the Tigers’ midweek smack talk, but said he and his teammates were able to stay focused on the task at hand.

“At the end of the day, you can’t really worry about what people are talking about, you just have to play your game,” he said. “Our message was to keep all that stuff off the field and just play football.”

And that they did.

Andre Skelton drags defenders with him to pick up yardage Friday night.

Anthony Ruelas powers his way through a crowd to keep the momentum going for Liberty.

 

Eddie Smith turns the corner to beat defenders during Liberty's big victory Friday night.

 The Liberty defense pursues San Jacinto running back Malachi Brown in the second half.