Liberty (8-2, 5-2 CUSA) rushed for a season-high 419 yards, running their way to a commanding, 38-21, win over Western Kentucky (7-4, 5-2) on Saturday afternoon at Williams Stadium. With the win, the Flames move into a three-way tie for second place in Conference USA and stay alive for the conference championship.
“Probably the most complete game that we played in all three phases,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “The way we played together, the joy, the excitement, is what we expect from our football team. Our challenge is hopefully we’ll bottle that and play that way all the time. That’s been the challenge this year. Very proud of the group. I think they’re a really good football team over there. Our guys, the last opportunity here in this stadium for our seniors, with our backs against the wall, I’m just pleased overall, the effort, the way we played, even when we got some foolish penalties, we overcame them. We played within ourselves.”
The 419 rushing yards are the 5th most in a single game in program history and most since the Flames rushed for 441 yards in the regular season finale at UTEP last year. Three of Liberty’s eight 400-yard rushing games in program history have come under Coach Chadwell over the past two seasons. The Flames have surpassed 300 yards on the ground each of the past three games, remaining unbeaten under Chadwell when reaching that mark, having done so 10 times.
Quinton Cooley and Billy Lucas each went over 100 yards rushing, the second time that duo have reached 100 yards in the same game. Cooley ran for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 carries. He has now gone over 2,500 yards rushing during his Liberty career, putting him seventh on the program’s all-time rushing list in just two seasons. Lucas had 131 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
“You got to give them all the credit,” Chadwell said of his offensive line. “Them and the tight ends and the running backs, we used them all. Going in, we thought they would play a certain coverage and try to say, hey, we’re gonna let you run it. That’s what they’ve shown to do and see if we were patient enough to do it, they were taking away some explosive plays. Our offensive line and tight ends said, Hey, go out, keep pounding and keep pounding, keep pounding. And we just kept going at ’em and kept going at them, kept going at them, and stayed with the game plan.”
The Flames had multiple opportunities in the first quarter to take the lead, three times getting inside the WKU 40-yard line but failing to reach the end zone. Kaidon Salter had a pass intended for an open Juju Gray on 3rd and 10. The pass was under thrown and Gray couldn’t haul it in as he slid to the ground. After an interception by Amarian Williams, the Flames turned it over in downs as Salter’s pass on 4th and 8 was intended for Reese Smith. On Liberty’s next drive, Quinton Cooley fumbled at the 35-yard line.
The Liberty defense was able to keep the Hilltoppers from doing damage early. The Flames had interceptions on each of its first two defensive possessions, first by Williams and the second by Jerome Jolly in the red zone. WKU would take advantage of the Cooley fumble, moving 64 yards on 6 plays to get into the end zone and take the 7-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter, keeping Liberty’s streak alive of trailing in every game this season.
The Flames would march down the field to tie the contest at 7. Salter’s run for 38 yards up the middle got the ball to the two before Billy Lucas punched it in. The Hilltoppers had their third turnover of the game on a fumble in Liberty territory. The Flames responded with eight straight run plays, going 67 yards for the score. Cooley got into the end zone this time from 22 yards out as the Flames took a 14-7 lead, their first of the day.
The Hilltoppers took over with two minutes left in the half. They drove into Liberty territory before the drive halted. Liberty defensive end TJ Bush got a pass breakup on first down, followed by a Brenton Williams tackle for loss on a reverse, and then Bryce Dixon tipped a pass on 3rd down to force the punt.
The Flames took over on their own 10 with less than a minute remaining in the half. Content to run the clock out, Liberty ran the ball the first two plays of the drive while the Hilltoppers called timeouts hoping to get the ball back with decent field position. On 3rd and long, Billy Lucas broke free for a 36 yard run to move the ball towards midfield with 39 seconds remaining. Liberty then went into hurry up mode to try to tack on some points before the break. Salter would find an open Juju Gray in the back corner of the end zone to take the 21-7 lead at the break.
“I think it’s huge,” Chadwell said of Lucas’ run to pick up the first down and move near midfield. “They punted, and I knew they were using their time outs. We’re thinking, hey, we need a first down, or if we don’t get it, we’re talking about what we were going to do on fourth down, and we break that big long run. He did great. Now you go, I think we had three time outs, and so you go, Hey, let’s score. You’re thinking a field goal, but once we got down there, the 15 or 20 we’re saying we’re going to take, I think there were about 20 seconds left, we’re going to take some shots at the end zone. KSalt did a nice job of getting around the pocket and Juju making the play. I think that was huge momentum, because I felt like we controlled the whole first half. We had nothing to show for it. We were up seven, but they’re getting the ball out of half time. And to me, that gave us a little bit of leeway. So that was a big swinging point in my opinion.”
In the second half, Western Kentucky scored touchdowns on their first two drives to stay within one score of the home-standing Flames. Liberty would extend its lead to 31-21 with 11 minutes left in the game following a 29-yard Colin Karhu field goal.
The Hilltoppers were unable to bring the score back to one possession. They picked up two first downs to move the ball to the 41, but faced a 3rd and 9. Caden Veltkamp’s pass intended for George Hart III was incomplete, and head coach Tyson Helton elected to punt.
Liberty got the ball back with 9:34 remaining on the clock looking to put the game out of reach. The Flames would take over six minutes off the clock, getting into the end zone with a Kaidon Salter three yard run, pushing the advantage to 38-21.
The Liberty defense finished the game with four takeaways, including three interceptions. Amarian Williams posted his first career multi-interception game, finishing the afternoon with two picks.
Juju Gray finished the contest with 162 all-purpose yards. He had 14 yards rushing, 47 yards receiving (including a touchdown) and 101 kickoff return yards. His 51-yard kickoff return in the third quarter was the longest kickoff return by a Flame since Shedro Louis’ 97-yard kick return for a touchdown against Virginia Tech on Nov. 19, 2022.
Liberty has secured its sixth straight season with eight or more victories. The Flames now will conclude the regular season on Friday at Sam Houston. Both teams are currently tied at 5-2 in the conference standings, also tied with WKU. A win for Liberty puts them into the conference championship game which will be played at Jacksonville State.
“I told the team that we’re in a playoff, we’re in a one game playoff,” said Chadwell. “We win, we get one more. I wanted our guys to understand the moment. That we were given a gift by La Tech, and we gotta take advantage of that gift. I want them to play that way and understand that. Now, as I shared with them, our back’s still against the wall, and we’ve got one more opportunity, on the road versus a really, really good team. It’s basically another championship game. Today was a championship game in our mind, because, if you want any opportunity to go play again, you gotta win.”
