4A football: Liberty bows out of playoffs with home loss

Longmont did more than knock Liberty out of the Class 4A playoffs Saturday night. The visitors earned the Lancers’ respect as well.

In roaring back from an early deficit to win the first-round game 33-18, the Trojans gave Liberty the consolation of knowing it likely lost to the better team.

“They just played smash-mouth football,” senior running back/linebacker Nick Bunney said. “They ran over our defense. They played great. We played great. … They were just a tough team.”

Such talk wouldn’t have been heard earlier in the game when it seemed Liberty was letting a golden opportunity slip away at District 20 Stadium.

Bunney’s 11-yard touchdown opened the scoring and his 40-yard run set up a short score for Ryan Gray as Liberty grabbed a 12-0 lead.

But Longmont’s Dillon Huber-Parker returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.

“When Dillon took that one back, it just kind of woke us up,” quarterback Jake Johnson said.

Minutes later, as Liberty was calling timeouts in hopes of getting good field position for a scoring drive before the half, Johnson threw over the top to Cameron Herbert for a deflating 90-yard score.

Despite dominating nearly every statistical category — 13-3 in first downs, 18:56-5:04 in time of possession — Liberty found itself trailing by two.

“We’re winning this game — except on the scoreboard,” a Liberty assistant shouted as his team prepped for the second half.
Longmont changed that as well.

The Trojans stayed one step ahead in a track meet of a second half with three long scoring drives. The Lancers hung around until the final moments as Isaac Koch caught a touchdown and Gray made a clutch pass on a fourth-and-5 as three defenders tried to bring him down, but it wasn’t enough.

“Every team’s season but one ends in a loss,” Bunney said. “We were just one of the other ones. But we had a great season.”

Liberty — 0-10 two years ago — finished 9-2 and won the Foothills Conference.

“What we did here was pretty remarkable,” coach Jaron Cohen said. “I wouldn’t trade our kids for anybody, and we definitely represented our program well tonight.”

Longmont (9-2) will play host to Pine Creek next weekend in a quarterfinal.