So close: Liberty falls to Buchtel

The Leopards were hurt by two special teams mistakes.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORT STAFF
RAVENNA -- A ballgame with a 7-6 score says something about defense and something about disappointment.
Except for a touchdown pass against both teams, the defenses were exceptional on both sides, but a mistake or two on special teams had a destructive effect for Liberty in the Division III, Region 9 championship Friday night.
A poor snap from center on a punt attempt and a flubbed extra-point try enabled Akron Buchtel to survive the outcome that sent the Griffins (11-2) to the state semifinals.
Liberty, meanwhile, suffered its first loss in 13 games and fell short again at the regional championship level. The Leopards lost to Cardinal Mooney in last year's Division IV regional final.
The shortage
"We just needed to come up with more positive yardage on offense and turn some more big plays," Liberty coach Jeff Whittaker said.
In the first half, Liberty had only nine plays, but it recovered to finish with more total yardage: 232-181. But when it counted, the Leopards didn't execute properly.
After a scoreless first half, Buchtel struck first when David Lewis beat Jonathan Wells and streaked toward the end zone. Lewis caught Rayshon Dent's pass over his right shoulder at about the 2-yard line to complete a 34-yard touchdown play.
Ernest Pitts' extra point made the score 7-0 with 9:41 remaining in the third quarter.
"We had only nine plays in the first half," Whittaker said. "But we bit on a stop-and-go a little and got burned. Other than that, I thought we played great defense."
Liberty's defense got the worst of it because Buchtel dominated the time of possession, 30:17 to 17:43.
Lewis' TD catch followed a failed punt attempt after John Humphrey picked up a low snap and slipped at the 34-yard line.
Back in business
Still, the Leopards got back in the game early in the fourth quarter. Starting at their own 16, David Ferrell completed an 8-yard pass to Donovan Fletcher, followed by Dania Gillam's 5-yard gain. Ferrell found Fletcher for 18 more yards before the quarterback threw to Humphrey, who cradled the ball at the 29 then sprinted down the sidelines to pull the Leopards within one point with 9:27 left in the game.
On the PAT, Jon Krause was holding when Humphrey's kick weakly dribbled behind into his offensive line.
Not all was lost, however, because Liberty got another crack when it took possession at its 45. The Leopards were making progress with a 6-yard Ferrell pass to Humphrey and a 14-yard gain by the senior quarterback. After Robert Hightower's 3-yard gain to Buchtel's 19, Ferrell's pass was picked off by Ron Peake at the 10 and returned 86 yards.
"We were working on trying to take away the slant all week and they finally threw it," Peake said of Buchtel's practice earlier this week. "Luckily, I saw it coming and I jumped at it."
Eighth theft
It was the junior's eighth pickoff of the season. His longest was a 97-yarder against Southeast.
Buchtel coach Claude Brown said that the Griffins were playing a lot of man-to-man. As the Leopards were closing in on Akron's end zone, Brown told his defensive backs to back off and play a looser man coverage.
"Don't try to press them," Brown said he told his players, explaining that he didn't want a repeat TD catch like Humphrey's.
"When we pressed the tight end, he took a post-corner route and made a great catch."
Asked about the first touchdown, Brown said: "We saw the kid pressing David, so we expected David to make a play if they bit on that. They did bite on a stop-and-go route and Rayshon hit David on stride."
Whittaker said he wasn't sure if the botched extra-point was a bad snap or bad hold or a combination.
He was asked about the difficulty Liberty had against Buchtel's strong defense.
"We tried to throw more early, but we had a tough time with protection," Whittaker said. "We had to make some adjustments at halftime. We saw defenses with a lot of guys in the box, but Buchtel was a little quicker up front than some of the people we faced before. They were able to get pressure on the quarterback early. We tried to come back and counter that by changing some blocking schemes.
"Unfortunately, they made more big plays that we did. That [Peake's] interception was a big one, but we made a great defensive stand after that."