EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
With six starters sidelined for Friday’s game against Wichita South, the Liberal Redskins had to look to other players to step in, and while the offense may have been slowed, the defense continued to dominate in an 18-6 Liberal win.
The Double X backfield of Xavier Porras and Xavier Tafoya did what was needed to secure the win.
Porras carried most of the load for the Redskins, rushing the ball 27 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns.
Tafoya only had four carries but still rushed for 97 yards.
Wyatt Mannel started at quarterback but didn’t get help form his receivers early. A pair of passes were dropped that put the Redskins in tough spots on third and fourth downs, but head coach Bryan Luetters rolled the dice early on fourth down conversions in Redskin territory and was able to keep the first drive alive until it stalled at the South 31 yard line.
Three plays later a South receiver made a catch and then committed an unforced error by fumbling without any contact, and the Redskins recovered.
But the drive ended in a missed field goal before the Redskin defense ended South’s next drive with a fourth down stop at the Redskin 42 yard line.
Liberal put together a nine-play drive that ended with a Horacia Casas 28-yard field goal and a 3-0 Liberal lead.
No one scored again until the third quarter when a bad snap to the South punter ended with a shank kick that gave the Redskins a short field at the Titan 23-yard line.
Porras ran four straight plays out of the Wildcat formation that included a three-yard touchdown run and a 10-0 Liberal lead.
South pushed the ball down to the Redskin 1-yard line before Liberal’s defense forced a fumble at the goal line, and the Redskins recovered.
But after driving the ball to the South 27-yard line, Porras was stripped, and the Titans recovered.
South went on a nine-play drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Jaeden Rosko, but the point after failed, and Liberal had a 10-6 lead.
Liberal took possession with 7:36 to play at the Redskin 43-yard line, and focused on the run for the entire nine-play drive that ended with a 12-yard touchdown run by Porras with 51 seconds to play, and after a two-point conversion by Mannel, the Redskins had an 18-6 lead.
Wichita South moved the ball to midfield with the help of two penalties against the defense, a facemask and a pass interference, but time expired, and the Redskins came away with the 18-6 win.
“We didn’t have them ready,” Luetters said. “We did a horrible job coaching. We have to get better and get the kids better. You have to win the ugly ones, and that was ugly.”
South tried to run the ball with Jay’den Kirk-McGowen, but the defense kept him contained.
“They took (quarterback Rashawn Johnson) out and put (Zahmere Jackson) in and when (Kirk-McGowan) was back there, they are either keeping it or giving it to (him),” Luetters said. “He is a hard runner. We watched him warm up, he was a big kid.”
Liberal was without starting quarterback Tevin Cotter and other key starters.
“Starting quarterback was out,” Luetters said. “We thought we could do some things, but we weren’t blocking like we should the first half. We talked about it. They made a much-needed adjustment. We ran two plays the second half, left and right. The way 6A and 5A are, we needed those two points. Mannel came in and did what he needed to get them.”
Liberal will host Guymon Friday.
