Liberal pinned their ears back on Friday night. Behind a physical and athletic offensive line, Liberal ran over Ulysses 38-8 on Homecoming Night Friday night at the Gary Cornelsen Sports Complex. Xavier Tafoya unofficially rushed for 241 yards as LHS rushed unofficially for 425 yards in the win.
Liberal scored first as Xavier Tafoya ripped off an 18 yard TD run at the 9:27 mark for a 7-0 lead after the Natividad Ovalle extra point. Stryker Berglund intercepted a Liberal pass at the 7:50 mark of the first quarter but the Ulysses offense was unable to take advantage. A Blayden Betts 19 yard touchdown run at the 2:19 mark made it 14-0 after the PAT. It was 14-0 Redskins after one. Tevin Cotter scrambled for a 32 yard touchdown run at the 10:57 mark of the second quarter for a 21-0 lead. Liberal created a turnover when Josue Castaneda recovered a fumble a their own 30 with 5:23 to play in the half. Natividad Ovalle finished the first half off with a 33 yard field goal at the 1:11 mark for a 24-0 lead at the half. In the second half, Ulysses was headed for an apparent passing touchdown but Liberal’s Max Holman hustled to knock the ball away at the one and into the endzone for a turnover. Xavier Tafoya continued his big night with a 49 yard touchdown run at the 1:10 mark of the third quarter and a 31-0 LHS lead. It was 31-0 after three. Caden Ledesma’s quarterback sneak with 8:55 to play put Ulysses on the board. Ledesman found Julian Meraz for the two point conversion to make it 31-8. A Blayden Betts one yard run at the 4:38 mark made it 38-8 after the PAT. Ulysses intercepted a Liberal pass late as both teams committed two turnovers in the game.
Xavier Tafoya was Epic Touch Player of the Game. He had 22 carries for 240 yards and two touchdowns. It’s the 7th most in a single game in Redskin history. Blayden Betts had 14 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Tevin Cotter carried 13 times for 73 yards and a touchdown. Liberal had 50 carries for 422 yards on the ground. Max Holman had six catches for 77 yards. Liberal had 537 yards of offense. Ulysses passed for 257 yards but rushed for -9 yards. The Angry Red had six tackles for loss and four sacks. Xavier Tafoya had five tackles, three tackles for loss, and two sacks. Landry Fitzgerald and Ethan Olmstead had 10 tackles a piece and both had one tackle for a loss. Blayden Betts had six tackles, a sack, and a tackle for loss. Gio Duran had a sack. Emilio Sandoval had two tackles for loss.
Ulysses falls to 2-5. Liberal wins their fourth straight against Ulysses and improves to 6-1. Liberal hosts Hays for Senior Night Friday night at the Gary Cornelsen Sports Complex with Redskin Pre-game at 6 and kickoff at 7 on 1270 and 92.3.
