By EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
With the Homecoming game slipping away from the Redskins in the fourth quarter, Landry Fitzgerald flipped the script and ignited the Redskin fans with a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown, and a late Ariel Gaytan field goal followed by Max Holman blocking a Dodge City field goal with no time on the clock led to a dramatic come-from-behind 17-14 Redskin win.
After a bend-but-don’t-break effort by the Angry Red defense stopped Red Demon quarterback Reis Ochs on fourth down at the Liberal 5 yard line on the first drive of the game, the Redskins debuted the wildcat, and in tow plays moved the ball to midfield with a 20-yard run Holman followed by a 23-yard run from Landry Fitzgerald.
Liberal didn’t score, but the field flip led to Liberal forcing the Red Demons to work deep in its own territory which eventually led to a short punt, and the Redskins took possession at the Red Demon 44 yard line midway through the second quarter.
Liberal needed eight plays before Fitzgerald took a handoff at the 14 yard line and plowed through the Red Demon defense before strolling into the end zone for a 7-0 Liberal lead.
But just before half, the Redskins were stuck deep in their own territory and couldn’t get a first down, and on fourth down at their own 6 yard line, the Redskins only had a 16 yard punt that gave the Red Demons the ball at the Liberal 22 yard line.
A roughing the passer penalty and an unsportsmanlike call against Liberal moved the ball down to the Redskin 6 yard line, and the roughing play ended the night for Dodge’s Ochs. But Isai Reyes Obando took over at quarterback for the Red Demons and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Julian Burrillo for a 7-7 tie.
A Liberal fumble in the third quarter gave the Red Demons Demons a stop, and with the Dodge City running game shut down, the Red Demons went to the air with a 31-yard reception by Elliott Williams followed by another pass to Williams on a third-and-seven along the sideline, and Williams avoided a Redskin defender and scampered 40-yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 Dodge City lead.
The Redskin offense continued to struggle and punted for the fifth time with less than nine minutes to play.
Dodge City burned about two minutes off the clock in three plays, but on third-and-five, the Red Demons passed over the middle where they had success most of the night, and Fitzgerald jumped the route and intercepted the pass at the 40 yard line. He moved to the left before stutter stepping and heading to a wide open right side of the field and broke free for a touchdown ad a 14-14 tie.
“They ran that same play earlier, and the pick went through my hands on the first drive of the game,” Fitzgerald said. “I felt they would come back to that play. I stutter stepped and read his eyes, jumped it, faked it to the left, and all I saw to the right were linemen, and I knew I could outrun them.”
Dodge City returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but a block in the back negated the score and brought the ball back to the Red Demon 9 yard line.
Neither team could score for the next five minutes, and with 1:49 to play in the game, Liberal took over at its own 24 yard line.
Three runs by Fitzgerald coupled with a 17 yard pass to Alvin Amador set up the Redskins at midfield, and facing a third-and-four Bren Kappelmann found Ismael Calderon near the sideline but short of first-down yardage. But Calderon juked three Red Demon defenders for a seven-yard gain and a first down while also getting out of bounds to stop the clock.
Kappelmann then found Holman for a 29-yard reception at the Dodge City 11 yard line, and after spiking the ball with 20 seconds to play, Svaty sent Gaytan on the field for a 28-yard field goal, and Gaytan made the kick to give the Redskins a 17-14 lead.
“This is my first year playing football and first time to kick to win the game,” Gaytan said. “They tried icing me. I stayed calm and made the kick.”
Dodge City returned the kick to the Red Demon 42 yard line with nine seconds to play, and a hook and lateral to Williams moved the ball to the Liberal 13 yard line with no time on the clock when Williams was pushed out of bounds, and the Redskins started to celebrate. But a five-yard facemask call against Liberal gave Dodge City one more paly with the ball at the Liberal 8 yard line.
Dodge City attempted a 25-yard field goal, but Holman got a hand on the kick, and this time the game was over, and the Redskins celebrated a 17-14 Homecoming victory and a 3-1 start to the season.
“We went 1-0 this week, we have to go undefeated each week,” Svaty said. “This was a test of ourselves. We overcame adversity. We checked that box. We have to score points offensively. We should have had 21 points and put that game away, but we came away with big plays for the win.”
Still, not executing right before half allowed Dodge back into the game, and the Redskins couldn’t run out the clock and had a 16-yard punt.
It was a lot of emotion,” Svaty said of the play and penalties. “The penalty situation is difficult for us. We had first downs, and penalties put us in third and long. We have to get those things taken care of. We have to have plays to get us out of those situations and execute those plays. We can’t shank a punt like that in those situations.”
When Dodge had the ball deep in Redskin territory late in the half, Svaty said he could have done something different on defense.
“I should have been in a man defense with a new quarterback,” he said. “I made a mistake there myself. I won’t do that again.”
Svaty also thought his defensive secondary made some big plays despite some strong catches by Williams.
“We had a couple nice plays in the secondary in the second half,” Svaty said. “(Williams) had four high points — it was the (Williams) drive. We could call the plays, they were just out-executing our guys at that point.”
But Gaytan’s late field goal followed by Holman’s block with no time on the clock complete a night of heroic plays by a number of Redskins.
“Max came up with that block or we would still be playing in overtime,” Svaty said. “It’s a huge win, one of the best of my career.”
Liberal will now host Garden City who lost to Hays 21-14 and dropped an earlier game to Great Bend 28-21.
“There won’t be any blowouts,” Svaty said. “It will be all fourth quarter fights.”
Liberal and Garden City will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Redskin Field.
SVATY Interview
FITZGERALD interview
GAYTAN FIELD GOAL interview
