Warriors' record drops to 3-3 overall, 1-2 Class 4 Northwestern District.
Eagles improve record to 6-0, 3-0.
Eagles improve record to 6-0, 3-0.
Liberty 20 to 13 over Sherando
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Liberty shuts down Sherando, rallies for win
Sherando running back Darius Lane finished with 137 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, but he and the rest of the Warriors offense were shut out over the final 38 minutes in a 20-13 loss to Liberty on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Liberty's Justin Lawson looks for running room behind the blocking of Mason Gay on a sweep, but he's eventually tackled for a loss of four yards as Sherando's Aydan Willis (25), Skyler Taylor-Goode (45) and Zach Symons (24) converge. Liberty won 20-13 Friday at Sherando.
STEPHENS CITY — Jabril Hayes' first leaping interception provided a jolt of electricity and led to a touchdown for the Sherando football team.
His second one prompted an even bigger roar from the Warriors' homecoming crowd, but it only led to a double dose of disappointment.
Hayes' interception that he returned nearly 40 yards into the end zone and would have cut the Warriors' deficit to one point with 10:58 left was wiped out by a block in the back penalty and brought the ball back to the Liberty 24. Then the Eagles knocked down a fourth-and-3 pass from the Eagle 4-yard line with 8:32 left.
Sherando — which was shut out for the game's last 38 minutes — saw its next and final possession end with Hayes being tackled three yards short of a first down on a fourth-and-18 pass from the Liberty 49 with 1:04 left. With Sherando out of timeouts, the Eagles were able to take kneel-downs from there and remain undefeated with a 20-13 victory on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Liberty (6-0, 3-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) dropped Sherando to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Class 4 Northwestern District.
The Warriors picked up 108 yards in scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions, but they couldn't crack Liberty's defense the rest of the game. Sherando managed only 135 yards in coming up empty on its final nine possessions.
"We pretty much knew what they were doing the whole time. We just didn't block it up very well," said Sherando linebacker and fullback Payne Bauer, the target of quarterback Dylan Rodeffer's pass on the fourth-and-3 play. "We thought we had an advantage [coming in]. We have a lot of dudes on our team. We have a lot of big boys that can play football. We just came up on the short end of the stick tonight."
Liberty trailed 13-6 at halftime, but the Eagles scored on their first two possessions of the second half. The first touchdown made it 13-12 Warriors and came two plays after Liberty sacked Rodeffer (15 of 22 for 119 yards) and recovered his fumble at the Sherando 28.
The second came as a result of Tre'von White scoring on a double reverse from 27 yards out to make it 18-13, with Mason Gay's two-point run making it 20-13 with 6:52 left in the game.
Sherando senior Darius Lane rushed for 137 yards and two TDs on 30 carries, but he had only 50 yards on the ground on 17 carries after Sherando's first two drives.
Sherando coach Bill Hall said the Warriors' execution simply wasn't as good as Liberty's.
"Football's blocking and tackling," Hall said. "As the game went on, we didn't do those things as well."
Liberty coach Travis Buzzo said he felt his defense simply didn't tackle well on the first two possessions of the game. But once they got comfortable, they were able to contain Sherando's running attack.
"We were able to fly around and make tackles versus earlier, when we were a little slower and missing those tackles," Buzzo said. "We didn't change anything, we just played faster."
Much like Millbrook a couple of weeks ago, Buzzo said Liberty wanted to make sure his guys were keying on Lane in order to put more of the onus on the inexperienced Rodeffer to make plays.
With Liberty providing strong coverage in the secondary, that made it tough for Rodeffer to complete passes and occasionally resulted in pressure. Liberty had three sacks, including one for a loss of eight yards on the play before Rodeffer's 14-yard completion to Hayes (six catches for 63 yards) on Sherando's final offensive play.
"That quarterback's going to be really special. He's just young," Buzzo said. "I thought if we could stop the run and force him to throw, I thought we could be in this game and eventually come out with a victory like we did. I think our guys just really stepped it up in the second quarter. I think in the first quarter, we kind of felt them out a little bit too much, and then we started playing really, really, fast."
Liberty's players were certainly moving quickly on the fourth-and-3 play. Sherando coach Bill Hall said tight end Chase Wilde in the back of the end zone was Rodeffer's first read on the play, but Liberty had that covered. Rodeffer then looked left to Bauer at the front left pylon. Hall said he felt like it might have had a chance to be complete had Rodeffer put more of an arc on his pass, but the Eagles had two players ready to undercut the attempt, and the one closest to the line of scrimmage batted it down.
While the block in the back penalty wiped out Hayes' touchdown (Liberty was backed up after a fair catch on its 1-yard line), the Warriors hurt themselves on plenty of other occasions with penalties, committing 10 for 78 yards overall.
Sherando missed a golden chance to build on its 13-6 lead when Bauer blocked a punt to set the Warriors up at the Liberty 25 on the last play of the first quarter, but the Warriors were sent back to the 38 after a hold on the next play. They eventually tried a 36-yard Jack Hendren field goal that went wide to the right.
"I thought penalties put us behind the chains," Hall said.
Liberty was able to gain 359 yards. Taking on a Sherando defense that surprised Liberty some by staying mostly in a four-man front, Eagles quarterback Dylan Bailey was able to connect on 16 of 31 passes for 240 yards and two TDs thanks largely to his quick passes off play-action.
"I thought they did a lot more [run-pass option plays] than we anticipated," Bauer said. "The middle of the field was open whenever they were doing RPOs."
Bailey connected with Justin Lawson (four catches for 84 yards) on one of those RPOs by hitting him about six yards downfield on a 28-yard catch-and-run TD to make it 13-12 Sherando two plays after the fumble. Liberty then did something else unexpected with the double reverse to White, who ended the play by taking the ball around the right side to give Liberty the lead for good with 6:52 left in the third quarter. White said Liberty hadn't run the play in a game in two years.
"Dylan [Bailey] had a good block, and [wide receiver] Wyatt [Hicks] in the locker room [earlier], word for word said, 'If you follow me and read my butt, you'll score," Bailey said.
"[Sherando] is such a fast defense, and we were trying to take advantage of them being so fast," Buzzo said.
Lane got the Warriors off to a fast start with an 18-yard TD run at the 9:10 mark of the first quarter to make it 6-0 after Hayes had an 18-yard interception return to the Liberty 40 on the second play of the game. After Liberty tied it at 6 on its next possession on a four-yard pass from Bailey to Hicks, Lane then helped Sherando go up 13-6 on his eight-yard TD run on fourth-and-1.
But the Warriors couldn't build off that. Now they'll have to try and turn things around against undefeated Handley next Saturday on the road.
"You can't feel sorry for yourself," said Hall when asked about his message to the team. "It's just about us being the best version of ourself. I like what we have when we do that. It's about making sure we're putting our kids in the best position to be there and making sure we're executing. Everybody's got to own their part of that piece of the puzzle."
- By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI The Winchester Star
- Oct 12, 2019
Sherando running back Darius Lane finished with 137 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, but he and the rest of the Warriors offense were shut out over the final 38 minutes in a 20-13 loss to Liberty on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
- ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI/The Winchester Star
Liberty's Justin Lawson looks for running room behind the blocking of Mason Gay on a sweep, but he's eventually tackled for a loss of four yards as Sherando's Aydan Willis (25), Skyler Taylor-Goode (45) and Zach Symons (24) converge. Liberty won 20-13 Friday at Sherando.
- ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI/The Winchester Star
STEPHENS CITY — Jabril Hayes' first leaping interception provided a jolt of electricity and led to a touchdown for the Sherando football team.
His second one prompted an even bigger roar from the Warriors' homecoming crowd, but it only led to a double dose of disappointment.
Hayes' interception that he returned nearly 40 yards into the end zone and would have cut the Warriors' deficit to one point with 10:58 left was wiped out by a block in the back penalty and brought the ball back to the Liberty 24. Then the Eagles knocked down a fourth-and-3 pass from the Eagle 4-yard line with 8:32 left.
Sherando — which was shut out for the game's last 38 minutes — saw its next and final possession end with Hayes being tackled three yards short of a first down on a fourth-and-18 pass from the Liberty 49 with 1:04 left. With Sherando out of timeouts, the Eagles were able to take kneel-downs from there and remain undefeated with a 20-13 victory on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Liberty (6-0, 3-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) dropped Sherando to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Class 4 Northwestern District.
The Warriors picked up 108 yards in scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions, but they couldn't crack Liberty's defense the rest of the game. Sherando managed only 135 yards in coming up empty on its final nine possessions.
"We pretty much knew what they were doing the whole time. We just didn't block it up very well," said Sherando linebacker and fullback Payne Bauer, the target of quarterback Dylan Rodeffer's pass on the fourth-and-3 play. "We thought we had an advantage [coming in]. We have a lot of dudes on our team. We have a lot of big boys that can play football. We just came up on the short end of the stick tonight."
Liberty trailed 13-6 at halftime, but the Eagles scored on their first two possessions of the second half. The first touchdown made it 13-12 Warriors and came two plays after Liberty sacked Rodeffer (15 of 22 for 119 yards) and recovered his fumble at the Sherando 28.
The second came as a result of Tre'von White scoring on a double reverse from 27 yards out to make it 18-13, with Mason Gay's two-point run making it 20-13 with 6:52 left in the game.
Sherando senior Darius Lane rushed for 137 yards and two TDs on 30 carries, but he had only 50 yards on the ground on 17 carries after Sherando's first two drives.
Sherando coach Bill Hall said the Warriors' execution simply wasn't as good as Liberty's.
"Football's blocking and tackling," Hall said. "As the game went on, we didn't do those things as well."
Liberty coach Travis Buzzo said he felt his defense simply didn't tackle well on the first two possessions of the game. But once they got comfortable, they were able to contain Sherando's running attack.
"We were able to fly around and make tackles versus earlier, when we were a little slower and missing those tackles," Buzzo said. "We didn't change anything, we just played faster."
Much like Millbrook a couple of weeks ago, Buzzo said Liberty wanted to make sure his guys were keying on Lane in order to put more of the onus on the inexperienced Rodeffer to make plays.
With Liberty providing strong coverage in the secondary, that made it tough for Rodeffer to complete passes and occasionally resulted in pressure. Liberty had three sacks, including one for a loss of eight yards on the play before Rodeffer's 14-yard completion to Hayes (six catches for 63 yards) on Sherando's final offensive play.
"That quarterback's going to be really special. He's just young," Buzzo said. "I thought if we could stop the run and force him to throw, I thought we could be in this game and eventually come out with a victory like we did. I think our guys just really stepped it up in the second quarter. I think in the first quarter, we kind of felt them out a little bit too much, and then we started playing really, really, fast."
Liberty's players were certainly moving quickly on the fourth-and-3 play. Sherando coach Bill Hall said tight end Chase Wilde in the back of the end zone was Rodeffer's first read on the play, but Liberty had that covered. Rodeffer then looked left to Bauer at the front left pylon. Hall said he felt like it might have had a chance to be complete had Rodeffer put more of an arc on his pass, but the Eagles had two players ready to undercut the attempt, and the one closest to the line of scrimmage batted it down.
While the block in the back penalty wiped out Hayes' touchdown (Liberty was backed up after a fair catch on its 1-yard line), the Warriors hurt themselves on plenty of other occasions with penalties, committing 10 for 78 yards overall.
Sherando missed a golden chance to build on its 13-6 lead when Bauer blocked a punt to set the Warriors up at the Liberty 25 on the last play of the first quarter, but the Warriors were sent back to the 38 after a hold on the next play. They eventually tried a 36-yard Jack Hendren field goal that went wide to the right.
"I thought penalties put us behind the chains," Hall said.
Liberty was able to gain 359 yards. Taking on a Sherando defense that surprised Liberty some by staying mostly in a four-man front, Eagles quarterback Dylan Bailey was able to connect on 16 of 31 passes for 240 yards and two TDs thanks largely to his quick passes off play-action.
"I thought they did a lot more [run-pass option plays] than we anticipated," Bauer said. "The middle of the field was open whenever they were doing RPOs."
Bailey connected with Justin Lawson (four catches for 84 yards) on one of those RPOs by hitting him about six yards downfield on a 28-yard catch-and-run TD to make it 13-12 Sherando two plays after the fumble. Liberty then did something else unexpected with the double reverse to White, who ended the play by taking the ball around the right side to give Liberty the lead for good with 6:52 left in the third quarter. White said Liberty hadn't run the play in a game in two years.
"Dylan [Bailey] had a good block, and [wide receiver] Wyatt [Hicks] in the locker room [earlier], word for word said, 'If you follow me and read my butt, you'll score," Bailey said.
"[Sherando] is such a fast defense, and we were trying to take advantage of them being so fast," Buzzo said.
Lane got the Warriors off to a fast start with an 18-yard TD run at the 9:10 mark of the first quarter to make it 6-0 after Hayes had an 18-yard interception return to the Liberty 40 on the second play of the game. After Liberty tied it at 6 on its next possession on a four-yard pass from Bailey to Hicks, Lane then helped Sherando go up 13-6 on his eight-yard TD run on fourth-and-1.
But the Warriors couldn't build off that. Now they'll have to try and turn things around against undefeated Handley next Saturday on the road.
"You can't feel sorry for yourself," said Hall when asked about his message to the team. "It's just about us being the best version of ourself. I like what we have when we do that. It's about making sure we're putting our kids in the best position to be there and making sure we're executing. Everybody's got to own their part of that piece of the puzzle."
Thanks for posting the article. Tough loss for Sherando. With undefeated Handley coming up next they are going to need a step up big.
I forgot Buzzo is at Liberty again. I wonder if he'll go back to his power running offense sometime.
I feel very confident he will adjust to the talent of his teams. He’s been around Liberty for a very long time and seen a lot of good and bad. For being young he’s proved to already have a great football mind and starting what seems to be a great philosophy for the program. I’m not saying Liberty will be a power house every year because our county doesn’t allow out of zone transferring but he is getting the boys ready for the next level or just life in general.
How great that Fauquier Co. runs HS athletics the way they should be. You live here, you attend and play here. Period. Refreshing.
Well it’s great for the local games bc even if teams struggle the in county games are always good football (spread the wealth) but in this day and age you can’t compete at the higher levels of playoffs
Principles over product EVERY DAY in education! If super-teams are the only way to compete, then competing in the playoffs is an inappropriate goal. Principles are more important than playoff success. The goal should be to compete in the playoffs while still holding strong to their principles.
