Football Preview: Liberty North Eagles vs. Raymore-Peculiar Panthers
Liberty North and Raymore-Peculiar are an even 3-3 against one another since November of 2019, but not for long. The Liberty North Eagles will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Raymore-Peculiar Panthers at 7:00 p.m. The timing is sure in Liberty North's favor as the team sits on eight straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while Raymore-Peculiar has been banged up by four consecutive losses on the road also dating back to last season.
Liberty North is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Missouri's top teams: Lee's Summit, who was ranked fifth in their home state at the time (Liberty North was ranked eighth). Liberty North took a 39-33 hit to the loss column at the hands of Lee's Summit. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Eagles, who until this contest were averaging 17.75 points allowed.
Liberty North's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Zemar Cheatam, who rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.2 yards per carry, and River Therrien, who rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries. The dominant performance gave Therrien a new career-high in rushing yards. Matthew Barber handled things on the ground, rushing for 86 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Liberty North was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 418 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Special teams also played a big role in the game for Liberty North, adding 15 points to the final score. All came courtesy of Bleu Renfrow: he went 4-for-4 kicking field goals for 12 points, and 3-for-3 kicking extra points for an additional three.
Meanwhile, Raymore-Peculiar was beaten by Blue Springs South 51-12 on Friday.
Liberty North's loss dropped their record down to 2-2. As for Raymore-Peculiar, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Everything came up roses for Liberty North against Raymore-Peculiar when the teams last played back in October of 2023 as the squad secured a 38-0 victory. Will Liberty North repeat their success, or does Raymore-Peculiar have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
