Liberty finished their season this past Saturday with an impressive 56-14 victory over #16 Charleston Southern. With the win, the Flames finish 8-4 overall and 5-1 in the Big South. We begin our 2013 football season in review with a look back at the first 6 games of the year.
All video highlights are courtesy of LibertyFlames.com
Game 1 @ Kent State (L, 17-10)
For the 2nd consecutive season, the Flames opened their year on the road against an FBS member school. And for the 2nd consecutive season, Liberty would lose a heartbreaker in the 4th quarter. This year it was Kent State who would overcome a 10-7 4th quarter lead to win 17-10. The Flames’ offense could not get anything going in the 1st half as they would enter halftime with a 7-3 deficit, but Josh Woodrum & company would turn things around in the 3rd quarter. Woodrum and Henderson connected on a touchdown pass early in the 2nd half to give Liberty the lead at 10-7. But that would be all the points the Flames would score in the season opener. The Golden Flashes responded with 10 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to win the game 17-10. Darrin Peterson finished the game with 5 catches for 106 yards, all in the 2nd half.
Game 2 vs Monmouth (W, 45-15)
The Flames would open up their home schedule with an impressive win over future Big South opponent Monmouth. Liberty’s defense was the story of the game as they shut the Hawks’ offense down. On Monmouth’s first offensive drive of the game, running back Julian Hayes was tackled in his own end zone for a safety. The defense, and the Flames, never looked back. Liberty’s defense racked up 3 sacks, 5 pass deflections, 3 interceptions, and 8 tackles for a loss in the dominating performance. Kevin Fogg had 2 interceptions including one he returned for a touchdown. Darrin Peterson again eclipsed the 100 yard mark finishing with 124 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 3 receptions.
Game 3 vs Morgan State (W, 38-10)
Run the ball. It was the name of the game for the Flames as they rushed for 330 yards on 46 carries. The 330 rushing yards were more than Liberty had in its first 2 games combined. Des Rice and Clifton Richardson finished with a combined 183 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. The Flames led 28-3 at halftime, and their offense was pretty vanilla throughout the 2nd half with most of the starters benched by the start of the 4th quarter. Liberty’s defense was again dominant, which became a reoccurring theme throughout the 2013 season. The Flames held Morgan State to just 3 passing yards late into the 4th quarter, and the Bears finished with just 28 passing yards in the game.
Game 4 @ Richmond (L, 30-21)
In a matchup that featured former Liberty head coach Danny Rocco facing his former team, Rocco’s new team got the upper hand. In a rain-soaked evening in Richmond, the Spiders outlasted the Flames 30-21. 3 plays, 2 John Lunsford blocked field goals and a Des Rice fumble inside the Richmond 10 yard line, were the difference makers. Quarterback Michael Strauss and the Spiders’ offense chewed the Flames up in the 1st half. Richmond had 332 total offensive yards in the first 30 minutes, but were only able to build a 23-14 lead. Liberty would cut the lead to 23-21 in the 3rd quarter, but the Des Rice fumble in the pouring rain would end any potential comeback. Woodrum finished 23/42 for 241 yards and Des Rice had 106 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on just 12 carries.
Game 5 vs Kentucky Wesleyan (W, 73-7)
Liberty would score early and often against Division II opponent Kentucky Wesleyan en route to 73 points. The Flames scored 14 points in the first 3 minutes of the game to jump out to a 14-0 lead. The first touchdown came on a 55 yard touchdown pass from Josh Woodrum to Darrin Peterson, and 4 plays later Andrew Jauch blocked KWC’s punt and picked it up and returned it for a touchdown. Liberty would score a touchdown on 10 of their 14 drives on the night. D.J. Abnar finished with 108 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 carries. Both Woodrum and Javan Shashaty would pass for over 100 yards each. Receiver Darrin Peterson had 5 receptions for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Game 6 @ Old Dominion (L, 21-17)
Liberty was able to hold the high scoring Monarchs to just 21 points, 7 of which came from their special teams, but it wasn’t enough as ODU defeated the Flames 21-17. Liberty led 17-7 with just over 4 minutes to play when Grant Bowden dropped back to punt. ODU’s Aaron Evans would receive the punt and danced his way to a 64 yard touchdown to bring the Monarchs within 3 at 17-14. The Flames would get the ball back and successfully picked up 1 first down while milking the clock down under 2 minutes left to play. Facing a 3rd and 5 from their own 41 with 1:30 left in the game, Josh Woodrum’s pass to Darrin Peterson was broken up forcing the clock to stop and Bowden on to punt once again. Taylor Heinicke led the Monarchs on a 6 play, 73 yard drive that took only 52 seconds. Heinicke connected with Blair Roberts from 27 yards out on the winning score. The Flames were unable to score in the final 28 seconds as they lost 21-17.
Liberty would enter their bye week at 3-3 with a huge game with rival Coastal Carolina looming. We will take a look back at that pivotal game and the rest of the 2013 season in our Season in Review Part 2.
