The last two seasons the young Liberty football team has paid its dues.
Following playoff runs in 2020 and 2021, graduation took a heavy toll on the young men from Glen Daniel thrusting a large portion of freshman and inexperienced players into varsity action.
The growing pains resulted in back-to-back 2-8 seasons. Now the Raiders feel like it is time to reap the rewards from the struggles.
“We have been pretty pleased with them,” head coach Mark Workman said. “This group kind of reminds me of the group my first year as a head coach when we had Braden Howell, Isaac Atkins, Shawn Pennington and Jeff Bowles. That group came in and went 0-10 as freshman.
“These guys that I have now as juniors, who will really be our focal point, they came in and the first games was against Independence the year they won the state championship,” Workman continued. “This current group has worked and they are experienced now. They have played 20 games, plus two scrimmages a year. It’s their time.”
A good portion of the excitement for Liberty centers around the offensive line which should be a huge strength for the Raiders.
Junior Connor Acord anchors the line and has received interest from schools at the next level. Sophomore Logan Ellis will play center, while Acord and senior Antonio Bartoli will be the guards. A pair of sophomores, Walker Smith and Ian Jenkins, will hold down the tackle positions.
“The others that will be in there are junior Alex Jarrell, a two year starter. He is battling a little knee injury right now,” Workman said. “Sophomore Jacob Akers is in the mix as is a kid we call “Big Baby,” Justin Shrewsbury. Justin is a senior that is 6-3, 280 pounds, and he is pretty solid.”
Adding more fuel to the excitement on offense will be the skill players that will run behind the beefy O-line.
Highly touted freshman Jaxson Workman, the coach’s son, will step under center. The younger Workman is a dual-threat quarterback that is physically and mentally ahead of his age.
“His biggest attribute right now is his knowledge the game of football. He can guide anybody on where to go,” Workman said. “He knows the offense from top to bottom. If linemen need to know who to block they can look at Connor or they can look at him.”
The Raiders have two strong running backs in junior Isaac Williams and senior Kris Bowman.
“Isaac is pretty daggon good, especially if we can get him outside,” Workman said. “Kris can also move into the slot and play a receiver as well. He played on the 7-3 team that played Poca (in the playoffs) in 2021 as a freshman.”
The main theme for Liberty this season on defense will be physicality.
“We want to run the football and be the most physical team on the field, no matter who we play. We want to start that on the defensive side of the football,” Workman said. “I always tell them, great defense leads to easy offense. We have to put our offense in position to score points and we can do that by playing good defense. This group is hard-nosed and they have grit. We are going to come at you and hit you.”
Riley Marty will anchor the safeties while Isaac Williams will guide the linebackers.
“Riley puts me in the mind of Braden Howell. He is a ball-hawk. Most of the time he is where the ball is,” Workman said. “We will look to Isaac at linebacker, along with Acord and Jarrell up front.”
While he has been pleased with the improvement of his team, Workman has arguably been most pleased with the perseverance shown by his young men over the last two seasons.
“To become a winner you often have to learn how to lose. Not that I wanted them to lose, of course. We want to win, win, win, but once you get that taste of losing in your mouth, the taste of winning is so much better,” Workman said. “These kids have went through some struggles and now it is time to reap some rewards of those experiences. Through those tough years, I applaud them because I didn’t have kids missing practice coming week nine or so. They were still here and they thought they had a chance to win.”
A playoff push may have seemed to be a distant dream the last two years, but this season, if they can stay healthy, the Raiders might open some eyes in regards to the postseason.
“We just take it week to week. We have Poca at home Week 1 and then we go to PikeView. We will just work it on down the line. Come Week 11, then we will talk about it,” Workman said. “Naturally the goal is to win a state championship, but the first goal is to make the playoffs. We know as a coaching staff and as players what we have to do to get there.”
