Gorman, Liberty meet once again for 5A Southern Region title

Liberty has completed two of the four goals coach Rich Muraco set for the program before the season: make the playoffs and win its league.

Completing the last two – winning the region and state titles – will require beating Bishop Gorman.

“We’re excited that we get the opportunity to do that,” Muraco said.

The Patriots (8-3) get that chance Friday when they host the Gaels (11-1) in the Class 5A Southern Region football final at 6 p.m. The winner advances to next Saturday’s state championship game in Carson City.

Muraco knows pulling off the upset will be a tall task, but it happened the last time the two teams met at Liberty in 2019. The Patriots won 30-24 in overtime in the Desert Region final on their way to a state championship.

“It’s a game that I hold special in my heart,” Muraco said. “It was a great night. A lot of things had to happen and go right for us to win, and then we came out on top. It was awesome.”

For Gorman, the loss ended its streaks of 115 consecutive wins against in-state opponents and 10 state titles.

Gorman coach Brent Browner was the defensive backs coach on the 2019 team and was promoted to head coach that winter. He said the loss made the program go through a period of reflection.

“We had to self-reflect what we did, who we were and what we’re going to be coming up, and we did,” Browner said. “Just like anything, it makes you stronger.”

The Gaels did come back stronger, avenging their loss to Liberty with a 35-14 win in last year’s region final on the way to the state championship.

This season, Gorman has outscored in-state opponents 441-3. Muraco said Liberty cannot afford to allow easy scoring drives.

“We have to make them earn it,” Muraco said. “We need to make them have six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, 10-play drives to score. Don’t give them a one-play drive. That’ll kill us.”

In last year’s region final, the Patriots gave up a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown and committed a costly penalty on one of their punt returns that allowed Gorman to keep the ball.

Muraco said Liberty’s out-of-state scheduling approach the past several seasons has gotten his teams to know they’ll have to play a perfect game against Gorman.

“It gets them to realize that when you play elite teams, every drive matters, every play matters,” Muraco said. “Any play could be the play that turns the momentum in a game.”

Muraco said Liberty is at a point where the program expects to get to this game against Gorman.

“Our kids know that this is everything we work hard for,” Muraco said. “That’s the focus of our program is being able to beat Gorman.”

Browner said Gorman’s 41-3 victory last week against Desert Pines served as a good test before the Liberty game. The Gaels led only 14-3 at halftime before pulling away.

“We usually get to this part of the season where we have to wait for the Liberty game to have a really great game,” Browner said. “We had a great game against Desert Pines, which helped us prepare for Liberty’s physicality.”

Browner said having a highly anticipated matchup between two of the top teams in the state adds another level of interest to the playoffs.

“We’re excited to play a really good team,” Browner said. “For the state itself, it’s great to have two great teams battling it out at this point. It’s great to have a big game at this point and then another big game (the state championship game) afterward.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on Twitter.