Flames finish season 6-5
Liberty entered the final game of the year needing a win to keep alive their streak of consecutive winning seasons, and they did so by beating #4 Coastal Carolina. With the win, the Flames now have 10 consecutive seasons with a winning record. Under Coach Gill, Liberty now has 4 wins over top 10 opponents including 2 in 2015. The Flames have won 6 of its past 9 games against top 25 opponents, and improves to 13-2 in November under Gill with the only 2 losses coming against Charleston Southern. Liberty also finishes the season a perfect 5-0 at home with a 1-5 mark away from Williams Stadium.
Senior Day
Thursday night’s game against Coastal Carolina was Liberty’s Senior Day. Prior to the game, 17 seniors were honored: D.J. Abnar, Jonathan Burgess, Miles Hunter, Austin Kaigler, John Lunsford, Jimmy O’Grady, Darrin Peterson, Des Rice, Zach Schreiber, Max Sommer, Nolan Spicer, Chima Uzowihe, Josh Woodrum, Gerald Holt, Ryan McCarter, Dakota Kelly, and Malaki Roy. Of these 17, 4 still have eligibility remaining, but are opting to move on. Those are 4 are juniors Gerald Holt and Ryan McCarter and sophomores Dakota Kelly and Malaki Roy.
The facility will be similar to UVA’s indoor facility. Photo courtesy virginiasports.com
Flames to build indoor practice facility
At halftime of the Coastal Carolina game, Jerry Falwell Jr. called all members of the local media to his suite on the 5th floor of Williams Stadium where he announced Liberty will begin construction on a new indoor football practice facility. Construction is slated to begin in the coming weeks. “It’s an exciting day for Liberty football, and this is just another way for us to show our commitment to Liberty University Athletics,” Falwell said. “It’s time for our football program, after our historic run to the playoffs last year to move to the next level, to have a facility they can practice in in any weather. This will elevate the program in ways that no other facility could.” The new indoor facility will replace the current grass field located behind the Williams Stadium Field Operations Center. Plans originally called for the facility to be at a different location near the railroad tracks, but Falwell said Coach Gill convinced him the facility needed to be adjacent to Williams Stadium.
Football commits update
- As we mentioned earlier this week, Carol City and Buckshot Calvert defeated Dillard, 44-6, in the first round of the 2015 Florida High School 6A Playoffs. Calvert was 12/17 for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns.
- Rud Yearick will be having minor surgery on his hand this week. He should be fully healed and ready to go for spring practice.
Flames in the NFL update
Rashad Jennings had 11 carries for 39 yards and 2 receptions for 12 yards in the Giants loss to the Patriots. With Liberty playing a Thursday night game, Rashad made the trek back to Lynchburg to be in town for the big game. He was an honorary captain for the Flames. Walt Aikens had 6 tackles in the Dolphins win over the Eagles.
MBB opens 2-1
The Flames opened the 2nd Ritchie McKay era this week with two wins over non-DIs before dropping a tightly contested contest against William & Mary. Enthusiasm surrounding the program has been evident through the first 3 games, hopefully that will continue throughout the season. McKay certainly has brought an entertaining style of basketball back to the Vines, and he has a team made up of primarily freshman and sophomore competing early in the season. McKay has continually referenced the idea of getting better every day, continually improving 1%, growing as a program. Liberty returns to action Saturday afternoon against Central Penn before taking the road for Nashville, Tennessee and the Challenge in Music City. The Flames will play 3 games in Nashville, beginning with Appalachian State at 3pm on Thanksgiving Day.
Women’s basketball opens 2-0
Carey Green and the Lady Flames opened the season with 2 wins over Appalachian State and Elon. Sadalia Ellis leads the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game. Ellis is also averaging 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game. Ashley Rininger is averaging 17 points and 9 rebounds per game. Two more tests for the Lady Flames this week as they host NC State tonight at 7pm before travelling to Harrisonburg for a showdown with James Madison on Monday.
Other Sports update
Your weekly non-football Fall sports update:
- The women’s soccer team lost to 3 seed North Carolina, 3-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
- The women’s volleyball team closed the regular season with a split on the road against UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb. The Lady Flames finished the regular season with a 14-13 overall record and 9-5 mark in the Big South. Liberty was the 3 seed for this weekend’s Big South Tournament, but fell to 6 seed Radford on Thursday night.
FlameFans thread of the week
This week’s FlameFans thread of the week is Attacks in France.
