Liberty defense strangles Pioneers

With the exception of the first drive of the game, Liberty’s offense struggled to find consistency Friday.

The Patriots’ defense, though, had no trouble at all.

Liberty picked the perfect time for its best defensive effort of the year, and quite probably of recent memory, blanking visiting Canyon Springs 10-0 in a Sunrise Region semifinal.

The Patriots (10-1) will host Coronado in the Sunrise final at 1 p.m. Nov. 24 with a berth in the state final on the line.

“I’m embarrassed to say that this is the first time all season we actually came together as a defense and played well,” said Liberty senior linebacker Phoenix Uptain, who had a sack and a fumble recovery.

Canyon Springs entered the game averaging 35.8 points, including an average of 40 points in its past five. The Pioneers scored 20 points in the regular-season meeting between the teams — a 23-20 Liberty win on Sept. 28.

“We studied the film all week from when we played last time, and we pretty much just tightened it up,” Uptain said.

And the Pioneers came up empty on all 10 of their drives Friday.

Four ended on a failed fourth-down conversion attempt, three on interceptions and one on a fumble. The Pioneers punted twice.

“I thought our defense did the job,” Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. “We haven’t really put a game together where our offense and defense played well in the same game, but the defense really came together and got us the win.”

Canyon Springs managed only 160 yards on offense, including 110 on 20 carries by Donnel Pumphrey.

Liberty certainly wasn’t an offensive juggernaut, but drove 75 yards on 11 plays after taking the opening kickoff and scored on Niko Kapeli’s 7-yard run with 6:58 left in the first quarter.

The Patriots, who were penalized twice on the drive, gained 85 of their 87 first-half yards on the opening drive.

Liberty did put together two solid drives in the second half, the first ending in Austin Fitzgerald’s 29-yard field goal with 2:41 left in the third quarter.

The Patriots also pieced together a 12-play, 46-yard drive in the fourth quarter, but Fitzgerald’s 32-yard field-goal attempt was blocked and returned by Tobias Carson to the Liberty 20.

Three plays later, Kai Nacua picked off a Bradley Alexander pass to end the Pioneers’ best chance to score.

Kapeli finished with 134 yards on 30 carries for the Patriots, who won the Class 4A Sunrise title the past two years.