By John Bassetti

sports@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

Dra Rushton picked up a fumble and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown and the junior also had an interception, both in the first half for Liberty, which squeezed out a 20-14 win over Campbell Memorial in an All-American Conference Blue Tier battle on Friday night.

As quarterback, Rushton also connected with Christopher Edmonds on an 18-yard pass to put the visitors on top with 2:26 remaining in the first quarter, 7-0.

After Liberty took a 13-0 lead, Antwaan McMeans pulled Campbell within 13-7 with 17 seconds left before halftime on a 10-yard pass from Darian Jones, who alternated as signal-caller with Zion Williams throughout the game.

The score remained tight until freshman nose tackle Simele Moananu intercepted Jones with 3:26 left in the game, but the Red Devils (2-3, 0-2) quickly responded with Yianni Koullias returning the ensuing kickoff 75 yards just 11 seconds later.

The Leopards (3-2, 2-0) held on and ran out the clock against the team that entered the game out-scoring its opponents, 107-73.

It was another close win for the Leopards, who beat Lakeview, 28-21, on Sept. 2, then defeated Brookfield, 27-21, in overtime last weekend.

“I wish these guys wouldn’t make my ticker work harder than it does,” Liberty coach Chet Allen said.

“Dra is Dra and he does everything he can with the abilities that God gave him and thank goodness for that,” Allen said of his quarterback. “We got a little selfish on that last play, or he would have had another one [TD],” Allen said of a late TD run nullified by penalty.

The Liberty coach also weighed in on Moananu.

“Our big nose tackle made a great pick for a touchdown — holy cow! I’ve only seen it happen about four times in my career,” Allen said of his Moananu, who also played on the offensive line. “We’re getting him ready for the next 3 — make that 3 Ω — years,” Allen said.

Edmonds also recovered a fumble for the winners.

“We were doing just enough, offensively,” Allen said, “but the defensive side of the football came alive tonight via the scoop-and-score [by Rushton] and the picks [Rushton and Moananu], so we’re just doing enough to get by. We want to put teams away early. We don’t want to coast, but, rather, control the game. We’re still waiting to do something spectacular, offensively, but a win is a win.”

Campbell coach Ed Rozum liked the intensity of his players and he thought we played very hard, but four turnovers — two fumbles lost and two interceptions — is hard to overcome.

“We hung in there and battled and I thought that our special teams did well,” Rozum said. “We controlled the quarterback as best we could because he’s a great athlete,” Rozum said of Rushton. “They’re a very good football team.”

The Campbell coach added: “It seems like when we get to that point, we just shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said of instances, such as Moananu’s pickoff for a TD. “That’s what’s discouraging; it’s not so much the effort, but the things we did to beat ourselves.”

McMeans intercepted Rushton once and blocked David Sewell’s 35-yard field goal attempt midway through the fourth quarter.

Campbell’s ball control was especially evident in the third quarter.

“Our game plan was to try to keep the ball away from their offense and everything was working according to plan until the lapses,” Rozum said.