The Liberal Redskins are 5-0. Let that sink in as it is only the second time since 1999 and also the second time in three years that the Liberal Redskins have been 5-0. Liberal went to Garden City and built leads of 33-7 and 39-14 and held on to win 39-34 for their third straight win over the Buffaloes. Tevin Cotter tossed five touchdown passes in the win.
Liberal had the ball first going against a 20 mile per hour wind. Liberal used a 12 play 80 yard drive to score first as Xavier Tafoya’s one yard run and Natividad Ovalle PAT made it 7-0 with 5:46 to play in the first quarter. Wyatt Mannel recovered at GCHS fumble at midfield. Liberal was driving deep in Buffalo territory before LHS fumbled at the 3:27 mark. It was 7-0 LHS after one. The Angry Red defense got a stop and took their third drive in for a score when Tevin Cotter found James Fieser for a five yard score at the 9:49 mark of the second quarter. Garden blocked the PAT. Garden City capped off a physical drive with a one yard run by Jose Yanez to make it 13-7 at the 5:18 mark of the second quarter. Max Holman made a leaping catch in the end zone on a pass from Tevin Cotter. The two point attempt failed and Liberal led 19-7. Landry Fitzgerald stood up the GCHS ball carrier on 4th and 1 to give the Redskins the ball near midfield. Liberal had one last play in the half with four seconds remaining from the GCHS five. With Liberal’s long snapper injured, the Skins ran one more play in the half and Tevin Cotter rolled right and found James Fieser for the five yard score at the horn for a 25-7 lead at the half as the two point attempt failed. Tevin Cotter went to work late in the third quarter finding Max Holman on a slant for a 19 yard scored to lead 33-7 with 1:21 to play in the third. LHS got the two when Cotter passed to Eathan Hernandez. Garden City’s Ryder Carr returned a kick 89 yards for a touchdown to make it 33-14 with 1:08 to play in the third. Tevin Cotter hooked up with James Fieser for a 16 yard post with 9:37 to play in the game for a 39-14 lead after the two point attempt failed. Liberal sputtered to the finish line the rest of the way. Culden Plankenhorn’s three yard score made it 39-21 with 9:16 to play. Plankenhorn intercepted a Liberal pass for Liberal’s second turnover of the game. A Plankenhorn 17 yard run made it 39-28 with 3:39 to play. Garden’s Tate Heavner found Mackoy Hemmert for a 38 yard touchdown pass to make it 39-34. LHS stuffed GCHS on the two point attempt.
Liberal had 564 yards of offense and GCHS had 219 yards. Tevin Cotter was Epic Touch Player of the Game with five touchdown passes going 26-36 with 384 passing yards. Cotter had 10 carries for 57 yards. James Fieser had 15 catches for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Max Holman had 5 catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns. Xavier Tafoya had 18 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown . Landry Fitzgerald had 12 tackles including two for a loss. Ismael Calderon added two TFL’s. Gio Duran was active on the defensive line with eight tackles. Austin Dodge had five tackles.
Garden City is 1-4 and 0-2 in the WAC. Liberal is 5-0 and 2-0 in the WAC. Liberal plays at 5-0 Great Bend Friday night at 7pm with Redskin Pre-game at 6pm on 1270 and 92.3.
