Liberty North has relied on a stalwart defense averaging 17.75 points allowed per game, but that average took a hit on Friday. They took a 39-33 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Lee's Summit Tigers. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (31), the Eagles still had to take the loss.
Liberty North's loss 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. Liberty North also got a significant boost from Matthew Barber, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 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 deserves some recognition, posting 15 points in total. 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.
Lee's Summit's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Preston Hatfield led the charge by rushing for 119 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries, while also picking up 65 receiving yards. Hatfield's longest rush was for an incredible 76 yards. Another player making a difference was Brayden Layman, who threw for 346 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per attempt.
Liberty North's defeat dropped their record down to 2-2. As for Lee's Summit, they pushed their record up to 3-1 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season.
Liberty North will challenge Raymore-Peculiar at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Liberty North's defense has only allowed 17.8 points per game this season, so Raymore-Peculiar's offense will have their work cut out for them. As for Lee's Summit, they will venture away from home to challenge Lee's Summit West at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
