****Late Posting Orginally written August 28th****
What an opening weekend for football! So many games on the iBN Sports network this first weekend, one of our live games, which happened to be the highlight game of the week Liberty vs. Sunrise Mountain, was one of the most exciting high school football games I have ever seen. I was actually in-house to witness the action; however, I watched the game on iBN twice. The best way to describe it is “instant classic.” You just cannot script it any better.
Liberty jumps out to an early lead and looks to be all but academic by the end of the 3rd quarter, but you just cannot count out Coach James Carter and the Sunrise Mustangs. Slowly but surely they chipped away at the lead in the final frame. The defense stiffened while the Mustang offense started to click with Max Sheppard at the controls. With no sense of panic Sunrise pulled within a touchdown after a 42 yard field goal late in the fourth.
Insert perfectly designed onside kick, and the Mustangs have a pulse. Methodically Sunrise start their final assault on the Coach Dan Filleman’s Liberty Lions defense. Quarterback Max Sheppard might have all the characteristics of a typical drop back quarterback, but the junior has playmaker written all over him. Running out the pocket to avoid the tiring Lions defense to either scamper for chunks of yards or connecting with his receivers to move inside the ten. Sheppard drilled a pass on a roll out right to sophomore Jon Drago.
I was standing next to the press box surrounded by the standing-room only Liberty home crowd. The stands feel dead silent. When Coach Carter called a timeout prior to the point after try, I knew exactly what was coming. Both Coach Carter and Coach Filleman were coordinators at Ironwood High School during their run to the state semi-finals in 2005, a run that I was also personally involved in as a player, which ended with a blocked PAT in overtime not in our favor. I had talked to both coaches over the years about should we have gone for two and the win. Both agreed separately if they had it to do all over again, they would have gone for the win.
At the snap of the 2-point conversion Liberty’s resilient defense summoned one last burst. An edge blitz off the Mustangs right flank seemed to confuse the right tackle as both the defensive end and blitzing backer swarmed Sheppard before he ever had a chance. At this point Liberty’s home crowd erupted into a ruckus in celebration or an attempt to deafen everyone within a half mile. Add in one beautiful front flip by Liberty’s blitzing backer post play and a failed second onside kick attempt and the game was a wrap.
Great game in person even better on replay, trust me you will not want to miss this one. Check it out on either team’s home page, now on demand.
I look forward to more up-tempo exciting games from both programs in the future.
Tim Gilbert
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