Second-half comeback sparks 30-19 victory by Liberty High
Brenden Adkins advances ball after teammate Jaylen Skelton forced a fumble. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group) By Paige Mendez, Correspo...
By Paige Mendez, Correspondent
The Liberty football team took down their Thursday night opponent, Sultana, with a second half comeback, ending the game on top, 30-19.
After a first half that was mostly controlled by Sultana and their plowing run-based offense, the Bison had their work cut out for them when they went into the locker room trailing 19-8.
The momentum shift first evidenced itself in a stripped ball for a fumble from senior Jaylen Skelton, who got the ball to Brenden Adkins. Three plays later, Adkins caught a 55-yard touchdown pass to get the team within five. Quarterback Anthony Quinones carried the two-point conversion across the goal line to get them within three with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter—something he said wasn’t necessarily the plan but worked out in their favor all the same.
“We lined up wrong so I just ran a play and decided to take it in. Stuff like that happens sometimes,” Quinones said of his two-point conversion.
It was just over two minutes into the fourth quarter when the Bison took the lead for the first time in the game, with a touchdown from Trent Hallis, making the score 23-19. The field position on that score also came from a Skelton play that covered 38 yards.
Each of the Liberty touchdowns in the second half were spurred by a defense that held Sultana to less than 15 yards per drive on average, compared to their 33-yard average from the second quarter. In addition, the Sultan offense did not cross the 50-yard line in the entirety of the second half.
That defensive pressure is something Liberty head coach Adam Contreras said the team focused on during their halftime chat in the locker room.
“We’ve got some big strong kids out there on our line,” he said, referencing tp Michael Ouarkoub, Jayden Torres and Micah Merced. “This is probably our biggest line we’ve had, and I think they kind of realized how strong they were. So at halftime they realized they could be strong enough to push back. And these types of games start up front and that really changed the course of the game in the second half for us.”
The defense forced one more punt in the game, which was followed by three consecutive Hallis runs. The first spanned 68 yards, the last took the ball over the goal line to widen that margin, making the scoreboard show a 30-19 Bison lead.
If the victory had not nearly been sealed already, a pick from Skelton two plays later certainly did the trick, giving Liberty the ball and the opportunity to run out the remaining two minutes of play time.
Skelton said the interception was icing on the cake for his first home game of his senior season, in which he played both sides of the ball.
“I’m just happy we have school tomorrow so I can be the big man on campus,” he said.
Contreras said he noticed the second-half fight from Skelton and the whole of the Bison team was inspired by one of their coaches, who is currently sitting out due to health concerns.
“In that locker room they all spoke to each other about the fight ahead of them, and some of the boys even mentioned coach Gamble,” he said. “They said they knew he was fighting for something more, so they could fight for this tonight. So it really helps that they can look to that and use it to inspire each other.”
The Bison are now 2-0 in pre-league games this year and will be on the road against Crean Lutheran on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m.
Parris Peacock avoids a defender to pick up yardage Thursday night. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
Brenden Adkins crosses the goal line with a 55-yard touchdown catch. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
Jaylen Skelton races up the field to gain big yardage for Liberty High. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
