Rivalry games in football produce some of the most thrilling games with the Nov. 4 matchup between the Liberty Lions and Heritage Patriots living up to the status of a true rivalry game. The Patriots’ stadium was packed as they welcomed in the crosstown rival Lions in the final game of the regular season with the Lions coming one play away from blowing a 17-point lead, but held on to beat the Patriots by a final score of 35-28. Devon Rivers made the Lions’ defense struggle throughout the entire game as he was able to break free for long runs seemingly at will. In the second half, he would step in at quarterback. The Lions’ defense made advancing the ball more difficult for Rivers. When they thought he would pass, he would instead tuck and run and when they thought Rivers would run, he would pass more.
The game started with the Patriots relying heavily on Rivers as they slowly marched down the field converting on third and fourth downs. The Lions run defense seemed to be outmatched by the Patriots’ rushing attack as on the Patriots opening drive took more than eight minutes of the first quarter and ended with sophomore quarterback Austin Peters connecting with a receiver along the sideline for a long touchdown to put Heritage up 6-0 early. The point-after kick was missed.
Heritage head coach Dave Fogelstrom went into the game with the goal of the offense being to mix up plays and take a lot of time off the clock.
“The opening drive we did exactly what we wanted to do; it was a textbook drive,” he said. “We worked on that all week, we knew we wanted to move the ball methodically down the field, mixing in the run with a few passes.”
However, the lead would not last long. On the ensuing kickoff, Lions’ return man Jamar Searcy went all the way for a touchdown to give the Lions a 7-6 lead without their offense setting foot onto the field yet in the game.
Both defenses appeared to be caught off guard by the opposing offense as Heritage marched down the field more quickly on their second drive and scored after Peters threw a pass into the back corner of the end zone where his receiver caught the ball to give Heritage a 12-7 lead following a failed 2-point conversion.
Getting the ball for the first time with fewer than eight minutes to play in the first half, Lions quarterback Nate Bell led his team down the field to inside the five-yard line where he would run the ball in himself to give Liberty back the lead. When the Patriots got the ball back, it seemed as if they would yet again respond with their own score to retake the lead.
At the Liberty 45 yard line, Peters threw a pass that would be intercepted by Lions defensive back Deuce Carr and returned to the Patriots’ 22 yard line. Liberty got the ball down to the two-yard line when they handed it off to running back Giancarlo Olveda for the short touchdown run as Liberty now took a 21-12 lead into halftime.
Liberty had an opportunity at the end of the half to expand upon this lead even further because they would receive the second-half kickoff.
But the Patriots tried an onside kick to start the second half to try and swing the momentum into their favor. However, it was unsuccessful and the potent Lions offense got the ball back at midfield. Bell would not let this opportunity slip away as he and receiver Ryan McKendry connected for a 22 yard touchdown pass to extend the Lions’ lead to 28-12.
On the Patriots’ next drive, Peters would throw an interception. That seemed to not only seal the team’s fate but his as well because he would not take another snap at quarterback for the rest of the game. On the first play of the Lions’ next drive, Rivers would intercept Bell and give Heritage a sign of life.
The two teams traded touchdowns on their next possessions, and Heritage was now in a 17-point hole going into the fourth quarter. The Lions’ defense appeared to get the stop they needed to put the game away, but a muffed punt by Liberty managed to keep Heritage’s hopes alive. With Rivers now in at quarterback, the Patriots would capitalize on this as Liberty defenders failed to sack him and he was able to keep the play alive long enough for him to find receiver Jesse Dawal in the end zone to cut the lead to 35-25.
What appeared to be a commanding 17-point lead going into the final 12 minutes of the game had dwindled to just seven points following a Patriots field goal as the Lions did not have an answer for Rivers.
On the following kickoff, the Patriots would recover an onside kick giving their offense one last shot to tie the game with 2:30 left to go in the game and all momentum in their favor. Rivers would get the offense to the four-yard line with less than 30 seconds to play against a defense that had yet to stop him in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were unable to score the tying touchdown on their first two plays, leading to just four seconds on the clock a third-and-goal from the 2 yard line.
The game would come down to this final play to decide if the teams would continue to play in overtime or if the Lions would win. Rivers rolled left and fired a pass to the end zone, but his intended receiver had tripped and fallen. The ball fell harmlessly to the ground, the clock showed all zeros, and the Lions had narrowly escaped with a victory on the Patriots’ home turf.
With the loss, the Patriots’ season ends, dropping their last two games and failing to finish above .500 in league play for the second season in a row.
The Lions’ win keeps the Brentwood Bowl trophy at Liberty for the sixth year in a row now as they gear up to play a home league playoff game this weekend against Amador Valley at home.
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