Liberty (2-4, 2-0 Big South) completely dominated Presbyterian (2-5, 0-2) from the opening whistle as they win 56-7. Flames Nation is much more accustomed to this type of score when facing Big South Opponents as Liberty improves to 2-0 in conference play for the 6th consecutive season and is 28-3 in its last 31 conference games. The 49 point margin of victory, is Liberty’s largest in a Big South Conference game in school history.

Photo Courtesy Liberty Flames Athletics


Aldreakis Allen rushed for a career-high 183 yards and 4 touchdowns on just 13 carries. Yes, 13 carries. That works out to 14.1 yards per carry. Allen had a long of 59 yards which resulted in a 1st quarter touchdown.

Liberty as a team had a record day as well as they went for a school record 692 yards of total offense. 429 of those yards came on the ground as Liberty’s offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. Liberty scored 21 points in the first quarter to blitz out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. They never looked back. Dating back to the 2nd half of the Gardner-Webb game, Liberty is outscoring its opponents 88-14.

Leading up to this game, Coach Turner Gill emphasized the importance of explosive plays. He defined explosive plays as being “runs for more than 10 yards and passes for more than 20 yards.” Gill says he wants to average 8 explosive plays per game on offense, and only give up 3 on defense. Against Presbyterian, Liberty’s offense had 19 explosive plays while its defense only surrendered 2. Incredibly impressive.

Liberty’s defense was just as dominant as their offensive counterparts giving up just 257 yards of total offense. The Blue Hose were unable to establish any sense of a running game as they were held to only 56 yards rushing. Kenny Scott and Walt Aikens paced the team with 7 tackles apiece. True freshman Chima Uzowihe also turned in an impressive performance with 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 pass break up.

Kicker Aaron Sassaman saw his first action of his career after John Lunsford was injured in the Gardner-Webb game. Sassaman went a perfect 8/8 on his extra point attempts and was successful on his kickoffs.

Josh Woodrum finished the day 15/21 for 232 yards, and 1 touchdown.  Sirchauncey Holloway had an impressive day as well as he finished with 128 yards rushing and 1 touchdown. True freshman DJ Abnar also recorded 65 yards and his first career touchdown. Ryan Ferguson led the Flames in receiving yards with 97 while Pat Kelly added 7 receptions for 79 yards.

Kaleb Griffin went 28/38 for 194 yards and 1 touchdown. Lance Byrd led the Blue Hose with 33 yards rushing. Anderico Bailey had a team high 9 receptions for 38 yards.

Liberty returns home next weekend for a 3:30 kickoff with Division 2 Concord.

Presbyterian heads across the Palmetto State to take on Charleston Southern.