Liberty holds off Struthers 19-13

It was the first time the Leopards had every beaten the Wildcats.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS -- Dania Gillam ran for 197 yards and one touchdown, and Chris Harden added 82 yards and two scores as Liberty High defeated Struthers for the first time in school history, 19-13, at Struthers Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The game, one of many in the area rescheduled from Friday night, delayed the head coaching debut of Struthers' Pete Pirone Jr., who spent his first two years of coaching on Liberty's staff, under the guidance of Jeff Whittaker.
"We knew that Struthers had an excellent football team and expected every bit the fight that they gave us," Whittaker said. "It was the opening game for both teams and there were plenty of mistakes that must now be corrected.
"With weather forcing the game to be rescheduled, both staffs had to get their players to re-focus and that was a tough task. Also, the humidity was unbearable today and that played a part in the change of momentum for both teams."
Early interception
Liberty's Donovan Fletcher caused the first shift in momentum when he intercepted Wildcat quarterback Matt Duponty on the first series. The Leopards capitalized on the miscue as Harden scored the first of his two touchdowns from 25 yards out on just the second play of the contest.
"We told our players before the game that the team that didn't turn the ball over and have costly penalties would be the team to win," Pirone said. "Three turnovers in the first half hurt.
"Our game plan was to run the football after back-up quarterback Joel LaRiccia went down with a broken thumb," he added. "We wanted to protect [Matt] Duponty and he did an excellent job for us, calling 80 percent of our plays at the line of scrimmage. I called the formation, he called the play and that is what we expect of our quarterback."
The Leopards increased their lead to 13-0 on their first series of the second half when Gillam found the end zone from 15 yards out, capping a six play, 57-yard drive that took just 1:49 to execute.
Wildcats get on scoreboard
Eric Anderson, who had a team high 104 yards rushing for Struthers, got the Wildcats on the board at 4:14 of the third quarter when he scored on a 4-yard scamper and when Duponty scored from a yard out at the 2:05 mark of the period, the score was knotted at 13. Each team missed their second extra point attempt.
Struthers had a chance to take the lead midway through the final quarter, penetrating to the Leopard 15-yard line, but the Wildcats could gain just 2 yards as the final two passes of the drive fell incomplete, enabling Liberty to take over on downs.
On the ensuing drive the Leopards (who had 259 of their 306 total yards on the ground) turned once again to Harden as he scored from 13 yards out at the 4:19 mark for the go-ahead score.
"I thought that we had two great defensive stands," Whittaker said. "Our game plan wasn't to run the football as much but their blitz package is what altered our game plan."
For Pirone, whose team had 294 total yards total offense (201 on the ground), focus was not the problem.
"Turnovers were our problem today," he said. "Liberty is a tough team to open with. We feel we're a pretty physical team but they're a little more experienced and that really helped them down the stretch."