Liberty breezes past Foothill in playoff opener
Unlike objects in an automobile’s rearview mirror, the one in Liberty’s regional playoff lens on a brisk Thursday night was not larger than it appeared.
The object that might be coming up in a couple of weeks is another matter altogether.
Junior quarterback Tyrese Smith completed 17 of 31 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another score as the host Patriots defeated Foothill 49-21 in their Class 5A playoff opener.
Liberty (7-3) will next face Arbor View (9-1) in the Southern Region semifinals.
The Patriots also moved a step closer to a confrontation against mighty Bishop Gorman that, should it come to pass, will decide who Southern Nevada’s representative will be in the Class 5A championship game in Carson City on Nov. 19.
“I don’t think it was too hard to be focused,” said Patriots coach Rich Muraco, who played a handful of junior varsity players in the methodical victory. “Full roster today — we do that so they can get the experience of what playoff football is about, how we prepare and the atmosphere. (But) we were focused.”
Smith scored on a 7-yard run in the first quarter and threw TD passes of 23 and 29 yards to Landon Bell and Andre Porter. His statistics would have been even better were it not for dropped balls and a couple of incompletions on which pass interference could have been called.
“We decided we kind of wanted to throw the ball a little more this week,” Muraco said. “We can’t play the elite teams and just run the ball, so that was kind of the focus tonight. Let’s throw the ball and get our quarterback’s confidence going, and we did OK.”
A couple more Patriots who did OK or much better were running back Isaiah Lauofo, who rushed for 125 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 5-yard run, and Jayden Robertson. The versatile junior caught three passes for 70 yards, made an interception on defense, returned a punt 55 yards for a TD and added a two-point conversion off a trick play, invoking memories of Gordie Lockbaum, the famous two-way player from Holy Cross of a generation ago.
“Once we got into league, we started playing him both ways,” Muraco said of Robertson, whose primary position is wide receiver. “We know if we can get past (our next game) and eventually (play) Gorman, they have just amazing receivers. We have to get our best athletes on the defensive side of the ball.”
Foothill finished the season 3-8. The Falcons, who were coming off a 75-0 defeat to Bishop Gorman, made Liberty work a little harder than it may have wanted thanks to junior quarterback Mason Dew, who completed 21 of 34 passes for 241 yards and found speedy wide receiver Jahmon Haylock on scoring strikes of 17 and 68 yards.
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.