Liberty (3-4, 2-0 Big South) struggled with Division 2 opponent Concord, but came away with the victory in front of over 18,000 fans Saturday afternoon at Williams Stadium.
| Photo courtesy of Liberty Athletics |
Sirchauncey Holloway had 142 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 28 carries. Liberty had a very vanilla offensive strategy as they rushed 53 times compared to 24 pass plays. Concord seemed content to let Liberty rush for 4-5 yards a play as long as they cut down on the big plays. And the Mountain Lions did well to limit the big play.
Concord’s offense struggled mightily against the stout Liberty defense and was unable to score any points on offense. Their 13 points came off a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, and an interception returned to the 1. Liberty’s defense only allowed 177 of total yards with just 47 yards coming on the ground. Brent Vinson had the play of the game as he sacked Concord’s Evin Dusold on a 3rd and 1 play in the 4th quarter. The sack virtually knocked Concord out of field goal range when they were down 21-13 late. Concord still attempted the field goal, but the kick fell way short.
Liberty wide receiver Ryan Ferguson injured his right knee on the opening kickoff, and he spent the rest of the afternoon on the sideline with a knee brace on. The team fears the worst, and awaits the results of an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.
Josh Woodrum finished the day 16/24 for 173 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His lone interception was not much fault to himself as the Concord cornerback virtually knocked Liberty receiver Pat Kelly down and then the ball fell in his lap. Aldreakis Allen continued to run the ball impressively as he finished with 94 yards rushing. Liberty’s leading receiver was Elliott Dutra with 7 receptions for 80 yards. True freshman Darrin Peterson hauled in his first touchdown of his young career in the 2nd quarter. Pat Kelly finished the game with 0 receptions for the first time in 15 games.
Liberty returns to conference play next week as they head to Conway to face Coastal Carolina in what sets up as a virtual Big South Conference Championship elimination game. Kickoff is set for 3:30.
