Team

Brookfield

Record	Div.	Conf.
5/5	Div. VI	All-American Conference Blue Tier

Team

Lisbon

Record	Div.	Conf.
4/4	Div. VI	Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference

By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

LISBON

The Brookfield High School football team moved the football with relative ease and regularity throughout Saturday’s first-round playoff victory over Libson on Saturday.

Quarterback Augustus Necastro engineered five scoring drives and threw two touchdown passes, enabling running back Mark Kraml to run wild for two touchdowns in a 39-28 victory in the Division VI Region 19 game.

The Blue Devils, who trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half, roared back to within six points thanks to quarterback Josh Liberati’s deft passing attack.

A Liberati-to-Austin Rutecki touchdown pass with 6:09 remaining sliced Brookfield’s lead to 33-28.

Necastro and the Warriors responded with another score.

Necastro helped march the Warriors 47 yards, carrying the football seven times for 43 yards before Kraml took a fourth-and-1 pitch at the Lisbon 26, fought off desperate Lisbon defenders and trucked 26 yards for the clinching touchdown.

“It was just guts from our entire team,” Necastro said. “Our line, our running backs and blocking hard; that’s what why you show up in the summer, that’s why we run all those hills, that’s why we lift all those weights.

“It was heart. I can’t explain it any way else,” Necastro said. “[Kraml] has played his best the past couple weeks. He is the epitome of this team with his heart. I thought he was down, but he made a great play.”

The Warriors looked poised to open up a sizeable first half lead on the strength of NeCastro, Kraml and their dominant offensive line. For a while, the Blue Devils managed to keep pace.

Kraml opened the scoring with a 41-yard run in the first quarter.

Liberati responded with a pass of his own to Collin Sweeney to tie it.

Necastro came right back with a touchdown pass to Caleb Hunkus for a 14-7 lead and Kraml was then on the receiving end of a 54-yard touchdown pass from Necastro.

The first Liberati-to-Rutecki touchdown pass cut the deficit to seven points, but NeCastro hit Xavier Bailey from 10 yards out with 0:43 left in the second quarter.

A 9-yard Kraml run put Brookfield ahead 33-14 with 6:19 left in the third quarter.

Then Liberati went to work.

He engineered a five-minute drive and punctuated the newly-utilized spread attack to find Rutecki from 10 yards out.

After Lisbon stopped Brookfield following a daring fake punt conversion, Liberati led a 12-play drive, converted a fourth and 2 at the Brookfield 15 yard line and again led Rutecki with a 15-yard scoring strike.

The second-half deficit preceded the decision to let Liberati fling it.

“We usually don’t run hurry-up,” Liberati said. “We’re usually under center. We needed a touchdown so we just went to it. It worked.

The Liberati-to-Rutecki (6-foot-5, 210 pounds) connection spurred the nearly successful comeback.

“That’s my guy,” Liberati said of his senior classmate. “He’s awesome on and off the field. He’s the best and he’ll do anything. Any ball in the air, it’s his.”

The Warriors will see state power Kirtland in the second round on Saturday at a site to be announced today.