By Curtis Pulliam

cpulliam@vindy.com

Liberty

When it looked like Liberty was in trouble, Lynn Bowden was there to save the Leopards.

Bowden — filling in at safety because of an injury — stuffed Lakeview’s Michael Mannella on a fourth down securing a 41-21 victory and the outright All-American Conference, National Division title.

The ball was at the Liberty 10-yard line with the Leopards leading 33-21 at the time.

“I told Ben [Phillips] before the play started that I had to go,” Bowden said. “I just seen that their line was falling down every time so I just went on the blitz and was hoping I don’t get yelled at for it.”

Leopards head coach Kevin Cylar had quite the opposite reaction to the play.

“He can hit,” said Cylar about Bowden. “He’s aggressive, fast and physical. We like to keep him off [defense], but he’s always willing to go in there and play defense.”

Lakeview head coach Tom Pavlansky knew it was a big play.

“Give them credit — they stopped us,” Pavlansky said. “I think if we punch that one in there its a one-score game.”

Bowden also did his part offensively with 312 yards on 26 carries and five touchdowns.

“Not that I know of,” said Bowden when asked if there is any thing on the football field he can’t do. “If I’m missing something, someone needs to let me know. But I’ll tell you what — I take pride in what I do. I’m a team player. I do it for them.”

Bowden made his presence felt on the first drive of the game. He topped off a five-play drive with a 24-yard run up the middle for a 7-0 lead.

Lakeview (6-4, 5-2) tried to answer but fumbled on its own 37. The Bulldogs had seven fumbles and lost three of them.

The biggest fumble came after the Bulldogs recovered an onside kick in the third quarter.

On Liberty’s 30, the Bulldogs attempted a double reverse. The exchanged was botched and Liberty‘s defense swarmed to recover the football.

“It wasn’t the only one, but there were some momentum shifts in there,” Pavlansky said.

Liberty (9-1, 6-0) jumped out to a 26-7 lead in the third thanks to Bowden and the defense.

Lakeview got within 12 when Mannella scored on a 4-yard run.

Mannella finished with 150 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries.

But Bowden made the stop on Lakeview’s next drive. Two plays later, his 88-yard touchdown run to seal the win.

“Listen, it feels very good, man,” said Bowden about winning the division and going to playoffs. “That’s all the principals talked about this week. [It] was, ‘Make sure you get this title.’ ”

Cylar is hoping for more.

“Right now I’m a little numb to it,” Cylar said. “To be honest with you we have our sights set on much bigger things. People doubted us early in the year when we were saying we wanted to go to states, but these guys believed that. And so now we get an opportunity to play for that. I was happy, but I’m not satisfied.”