Gallery by Heather Belcher
The preliminary numbers did not favor Liberty Thursday night in the Battle of ’76 clash with county rival Independence.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, the numbers did not lie.
Replacing nearly every starter on both sides of the ball while the Patriots returned almost all of their starting cast, Liberty was no match for Independence.
Scoring on eight straight possessions in the first half and smothering the Raiders with defense, Independence rolled to a 60-0 win on opening night in Coal City.
“The last time we were on this field we were playing to go to the state championship. I felt like with us having so many of those players back that we should come and and play focused in the first quarter,” Independence head coach John H. Lilly said. “(Liberty) is a young football team and we knew that, but this was more about us getting prepared for the next game. I thought they handled it well.”
It was no secret coming into the game that the outcome would likely be lopsided. The Patriots, however, were taking nothing for granted.
“Coach preached it all week that he didn’t want us to be overconfident. We are good team and people know that, but it’s a rival game and you never know what will happen,” senior Judah Price said. We came in confident, but not to confident, and we had great chemistry out there tonight. We all played really well and we took care of business.”
Price carried the ball eight times on the night and tallied 195 yards with half his totes going for touchdowns.
The effort was good enough to be named the Pioneer Bank Battle of ’76 Most Valuable Player.
“I have some big guys up front. They all trust me and I trust them. They get the holes open and I run through them,” Price said.
A 44-yard burst by the senior speedster opened the game for Indy, leading to a 10-yard scoring run from junior quarterback Trey Bowers.
Starting his first game under center, Bowers added another six-yard scoring jaunt two series later, before launching a 47-yard touchdown pass to Colten Caron for another score on the next possession.
Bowers ran for 44 yards on three carries and added 80 yards through the air on a pair of completions.
“God has blessed us with some good kids. It goes in cycles, but for right now they deserved what they got because they worked really, really hard in the off-season,” Lilly said.
Price scored three times in the second quarter and Colton Miller closed out the first half outburst with an eight-yard run.
“Cyrus (Goodson) had the banged up knee, but we wanted to get him out there since he was a senior. He will be back full speed next week. We were also missing one of our best football players who was sick tonight in Braxton McKinney,” Lilly said. “I was pleased with the guys tonight. Everybody played the way they should have played.”
It was also the second year in a row that Independence held Liberty scoreless.
“I said earlier that they should give them state championship trophy,” Liberty interim head coach Mark Montgomery said. “We knew what we were going to get into tonight. Coach Lilly’s staff was gracious enough (tonight). The score could have been whatever they wanted. I was disappointed that we hadn’t improved much. Hopefully, the next two weeks we can.”
Independence is back at George Covey Field Friday to host Oak Hill, while Liberty is off next Friday. The Raiders will travel to PikeView in Week 3.
“Oak Hill will be a fun game and we know we have a big test next week,” Lilly said about the Class AAA Red Devils. “Skill-wise it is a team that matches up with us pretty well. Hopefully tonight will help us get prepared for the next game.”
L: 0 0 0 0 – 0
I: 32 28 0 0 -60
First quarter
I: Trey Bowers 10 run (Judah Price run)
I: Price 13 run (Bowers run)
I: Bowers 6 run (Price run)
I: Colten Caron 47 pass from Bowers (Price run)
Second quarter
I: Price 28 run (Tyler Linkswiler pass from Caron)
I: Price 30 run (pass failed)
I: Price 27 run (Price run)
I: Colton Miller 8 run (run failed)
Team Stats
Rushing: (L) Wyatt Burdette 6- (-7), Kris Bowman 7- (-9), Dalton Williams 10-18; (I) Price 8-196-4, Bowers 3-44-2, Tyler Linkswiler 3-48, Miller 1-8-1, Lucas Waddell 1-17
Passing: (L) Williams 3-6-25 ; (I) Bowers 2-3-80-0-1
Receiving: (L) Bowman 3-25 ; (I) Goodson 1-33, Caron 1-47-1
