On Thursday, The Shadow Ridge Mustangs faced the Liberty Patriots in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Shadow Ridge fell just short of Liberty by a score of 35-32. This was one game where the offenses had no trouble playing at a high level.
Despite the loss, Shadow Ridge still got an impressive performance from Coen Coloma, who rushed for 172 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.1 yards per carry. Coloma's longest rush was for an incredible 75 yards. Evan Cannon also helped out as he racked up 103 rushing yards.
Liberty's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Tyrese Smith, who threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.9% of his passes. Liberty also got help from Jayden Robertson who showed off his sure hands for 140 receiving yards.
This is the second loss in a row for Shadow Ridge and nudges their season record down to 5-4. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 10-0 Bishop Gorman (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 90% over those games). As for Liberty, their victory was their eighth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-2.
Shadow Ridge will head out on the road to face off against Arbor View at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Nevada (Arbor View is ranked third, while Shadow Ridge is ranked sixth). As for Liberty, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Silverado at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Silverado is coming into the match on a six-game losing streak.
