Central overcomes Liberty’s ball control offense | high school sports

Anyone wondering how dangerous Liberty High’s quirky no-punt offense can be need look no further than Friday night’s District 4-5A game at Central, where the Patriots gave the Wildcats a scare.

Liberty possessed the ball for nearly 18 minutes in the first half as it built a two-touchdown lead, but ran out of steam in the second half. Powered by Marvin Joseph’s three touchdown runs, Central rallied to defeat the Patriots 35-20.

Joseph finished with 70 yards on eight carries in what amounted to less than three quarters of football. Central (7-1, 2-1) did not make any offensive plays until the second quarter.

“I take my hat off to (Liberty),” Central coach David Simoneaux said. “They ate up a lot of time in the first half and we had some discipline and execution issues that put us in bad situations.”

Liberty (2-6, 0-3) held Central scoreless on its only two possessions of the first half, as it took a 14-0 lead. The Patriots had a chance to respond to Central’s first touchdown in the third quarter after advancing inside the Central 10. Central held Liberty on downs and scored touchdowns the next four times it got the ball.

“We knew we had to keep the ball away from them,” Liberty coach Andy Boone said. “We did it in the first half and not the second. We had a chance to score in the third quarter, and when we didn’t, the momentum just swung their way.”

Central finished the game with 268 yards of offense, 219 of which came in the second half. Wildcats quarterback Jackson Firmin ran for a touchdown and threw another to Kylen Thomas, who caught four passes for 64 yards.

Liberty had 231 rushing yards, a number fueled by Dedrick Welch and Collin Stephenson with 70 yards each. The Patriots used two quarterbacks, including Brice Preston, who completed three passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.

There was no secret about the game plan Liberty employs, but their execution in the first half was impeccable.

The Patriots won the toss and elected to receive the ball. They continued to hold the ball throughout the first quarter during a 20-play, 80-yard drive. Dedrick Welch capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter, and Liberty led 6-0.

Among the key plays of the drive, the Patriots converted a fourth-and-4 at their 26, a third-and-13 at their 39 and a fourth-and-6 at the Central 43.

Central finally ran its first play at the 11:40 mark of the second quarter. After picking up a first down, the Wildcats stalled and were forced to punt.

From the age of 13, Liberty returned to work. The Patriots advanced to midfield where quarterback Brice Preston found Welch 10 yards behind the center defense for a 44-yard touchdown. Collin Stephenson’s 2-point run gave Liberty a 14-0 lead.

After the opening kickoff, Central had a first and goal at the Liberty 10, but came up empty after four incomplete passes.

“I really love the way we responded in the second half,” Simoneaux said. “We brought some guys out in the second half to keep everyone healthy, but 35 points in a row was a great response.”