The Liberty Lions's homestand will continue as they prepare to take on the Centennial Huskies at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Liberty is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Mountain View, who was ranked ninth in their home state at the time (Liberty was ranked first). Liberty simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Mountain View 49-20 at home. Fans of the Lions have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ point.
Hayden Fletcher was nothing short of spectacular: he threw for 450 yards and six touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes. Braxton Huynh was another key player, picking up 168 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Liberty wouldn't let Mountain View keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Tyvel Calloway, Zeth Thues, and Paz St John picked up one apiece. Another thorn in Mountain View's side was Hudson Dunn, who picked up three sacks and made six total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Centennial didn't have too much trouble with Lone Peak at home on Saturday as they won 49-35. The Huskies pushed the score to 42-21 by the end of the third, a deficit the Knights cut but never quite recovered from.
Centennial's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Husan Longstreet, who rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries, and also threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns on only 17 passes. The dominant performance gave Longstreet a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Braylin Drake, who rushed for 249 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.6 yards per carry.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Centennial was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 418 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Liberty's win was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0. As for Centennial, the victory also got them back to even at 2-2.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Liberty has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 287 passing yards per game. Centennial, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 263.2 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Saturday? There's only one way to find out.
Liberty came up short against Centennial in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, falling 42-35. Thankfully for Liberty, Cornell Hatcher, Jr. (who rushed for 305 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
