#4 Liberty Dominates #6 Mesa 58-18 in Opener

The Liberty Lions ran away with a win against the Mesa Jackrabbits after defeating them 58-18.

With Liberty graduating many talented seniors last season, many people thought they might have taken a step back.

Liberty head coach Colin Thomas mentioned that his players earned the right to be a talented team.

“I think a lot of people thought we were done,” Thomas said. “These guys worked hard and earned their chance to be a great team at Liberty.”

The Lions would be the first team to put numbers on the board and make an early statement.

Liberty 2029 quarterback Jason Haines had his first varsity start and got out to a hot start.

Late in the first quarter, Haines threw his first career varsity touchdown pass to Liberty 2027 wide receiver Evan Adamczyk for a 5-yard touchdown.

Haines only needed three minutes to fire in his second touchdown pass of the game.

As the first quarter wound down, the Lions got out to a double-digit lead.

Slinging a quick screen pass was Haines, who connected with Liberty 2027 athlete Kenny Raymond, who did the rest and scored from 43 yards out.

Haines said he was excited for the opportunity to show the state what he can do.

“It was my first opportunity to show the state what I’m about,” Haines said. “What I’m going to do for the next three years.”

From the jump, the Jackrabbits struggled on both sides of the ball.

It took until midway through the second quarter for Mesa to get their first points of the season.

Mesa 2027 quarterback Kane Anetema launched a deep bomb to Mesa 2027 wide receiver Vaingamalie Tafuna for a 43-yard touchdown.

Tafuna front-flipped into the end zone and gave the Jackrabbits a burst of energy.

The energy ended up not lasting more than one play as the special teams unit for Liberty was able to return a touchdown.

Returning the touchdown was Liberty 2029 kick returner Jayveon Davidson, who took out all the energy that was at Mesa’s stadium.

Capping off the great first half, Liberty proceeded to create two turnovers.

Liberty 2027 defensive backs Kaden Miller and Brayden Howland snagged interceptions on back-to-back drives and kept Mesa from scoring before halftime.

Following the two impressive defensive plays, Liberty led 24-6 at halftime.

Momentum kept on rolling for the Lions in the second half.

Early in the third quarter, Liberty was able to create yet another turnover.

Coming off the edge, Liberty 2029 defensive lineman Danny Murtagh got a strip sack that was then recovered by Liberty 2029 defensive lineman Kannon Gilkey.

Murtagh is one of many talented 2029 players on Liberty, said it was a big step playing at the varsity level.

“It’s a big step going up to the Varsity level,” Murtagh said. “It’s a whole different mind game, but it’s good.”

The turnover gave the Lions a golden opportunity with the ball on the one-yard line.

Only needing one play, Liberty gave it to 2027 running back Jayden Sanchez, who scored from one yard out.

Even though Liberty was dominating, the Jackrabbits were able to put together another scoring drive.

Mesa put together their best drive of the game and entered into the Lions' territory.

They faced a 4th and 7 and needed to be aggressive to get back in the game.

Needing a big play, Kane Anetema found his brother in the back of the end zone when he lofted a 31-yard touchdown pass to Mesa 2027 ASU wide receiver commit Kingston Anetema.

Similar to earlier in the game, after Mesa scored, Liberty responded with consecutive touchdowns of their own.

Late in the third quarter, Haines dumped a pass off to Liberty 2029 tight end Jayden Sellers, who reached into the end zone to get a 13-yard score.

The nail in the coffin came early in the fourth quarter as Liberty scored back-to-back one-play touchdowns.

One of them was Haines throwing his fourth and final touchdown pass to Liberty 2027 wide receiver Carter Rothe for a 78-yard touchdown.

Then the other one-play touchdown saw Raymond call his own number on the read option play, and he scampered in from 40 yards out.

In week one, Liberty went on the road to a talented 6A team and won by 40 points.

They showed that they are still a team that has what it takes to win the Open Division Championship in December.

Even after the impressive win, Liberty knows they can improve, but they also know that they have the players to be dominant again.

“We got a long way to go,” Thomas said. “When you work for four years like our guys do and your time has come, you take that seriously.”

Next up: 1-0 Liberty looks to continue their strong momentum when they take on a national powerhouse in 3-0 Corner Canyon (UT). 0-1 Mesa looks to get in the win column when they face 1-0 O’Connor.