Quick-hit notes following Liberty’s shootout win over Maine

A few quick-hit notes following Liberty’s win against Maine, 59-44:

• It only took two plays for Antonio Gandy-Golden to pick up the 25 yards receiving he needed to break Darrin Peterson’s career receiving mark of 3,170 yards. AGG, playing in front of a representative from the Reese’s Senior Bowl, finished the game with 9 receptions and 149 receiving yards.
• Buckshot Calvert entered the game needing just 69 passing yards to reach the 10,000 yard milestone for his career, joining Josh Woodrum who was Peterson’s quarterback. Calvert finished the game 23-of-35 passing for 351 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s also gone five straight games without an interception.
• Calvert also needed 336 passing yards to surpass Woodrum’s record of 10,266 career passing yards. Buckshot would get the yardage needed in the 4th quarter when he connected with AGG for a 17 yard completion.
• Calvert’s 5 touchdowns ties a program record for touchdown passes in a single game, a mark that Buckshot has twice previously.
• The Flames led by a margin of 52-17 midway through the 3rd quarter, but Maine would respond with 20 straight minutes in just over 2 minutes to cut the score to a two score game at 52-37 with just over 12 minutes left in the game.
• Coach Freeze would put the first string offense back in the ball game, and the Flames would respond with another touchdown.
• Noah Frith made his first career start at wide receiver and he would also haul in his first career touchdown on Liberty’s first drive, a 14 yard catch.
• True freshman wide receiver and kick returner Shedro Louis has been flirting with it all season, but he finally was able to find a seem and return a kick 97 yards for a touchdown to give the Flames a 14-3 lead with 6:56 left in the first quarter. Louis would leave the game late in the first half and would not return.
• Former Maine running back Joshua Mack had 75 total yards and 1 touchdown against his former team.
• The Flames scored on every drive of the first half, scoring six touchdowns and one field goal. Liberty had 329 yards of offense in the opening 30 minutes. The offense scored on its first eight drives tonight, seven of them touchdowns.
• Liberty entered the game last in the FBS in red zone offense. It’s safe to say the Flames will improve that ranking this week as Liberty scored on all 8 of its trips into the red zone.
• This is Liberty’s first five-game winning streak since the 2016 season and first 5-2 start to a season since the 2010 campaign began the year at 7-2.
• The Flames move to 9-2 at home as an FBS team.
• Liberty moves to just 4-24 all-time against CAA opponents as the Flames have struggled against the traditionally strong FCS conference. This is Liberty’s first win over a team from the CAA since the Flames defeated James Madison, 26-21, in the FCS Playoffs on November 29, 2014.
• Liberty now hits the road for four straight games beginning with a trip to New Jersey to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Rutgers is 1-6 on the season after following to #20 Minnesota, 42-7.