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Liberty look to go up-tempo on both sides of the ball
LIBERTY
Coach Chet Allen advised anyone doing play-by-play with a pen or pencil that they’d better learn shorthand because the Leopards are going to run an up-tempo offense this season in hopes of exorcising the memory of the school’s 3-7 and 5-5 won-loss records from 2015 and 2016, respectively.
For a fourth straight year, Liberty will rely heavily on Dra Rushton’s talents as quarterback and cornerback for the team that dropped a division for 2017.
“Liberty gained 10 kids, but, somehow, that pushed us down to six [Division VI],” Allen said of the net effect of the state’s competitive balance implementation that kicks in this fall.
“We were a bottom V last year and then became top/mid-top of VI. If we’re lucky enough to get into the playoffs, we would be in position to play Brookfield, Western Reserve and Kirtland. First, however, we’ve got to take care of Week 1.”
Liberty’s opener is against Struthers.
“We’ve gained some more muscle and speed, so, hopefully, we have enough firepower to get it done,” the coach said of a team goal to improve. “Having a six, seven or 10-win season would be great.”
OFFENSE
Aside from Rushton (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) as the triggerman in the backfield will be either seniors Charles Pickard and Brian Maddox or junior Jalen McKinney as running backs.
“Brian is back after a year off, but he’s definitely vying for that position,” Allen said of Maddox. “All three are fighting for the position, so we could have a three-headed monster, so that’s a good thing to keep guys fresh.”
Rushton has been a starter in some capacity — defensive back or wide receiver — since his freshman year. This will be his second season as QB.
Other skill-position players loading up the offense are senior Chris Edmonds as the H-back/TE hybrid and seniors Capone Haywood, Quaishon Campbell, Tobias Brantley and junior Kameron Thomas as wideouts. Also fighting for wideout spots are Justin Cizmar and Zion Matlock, both juniors.
Up front, senior center Mohannad Yusuf (6-0, 199) will be joined by guards James Spisak (5-11, 220 senior), Simi Moananu (5-10, 280, sophomore) or senior Jaylen Harper (6-1, 285, senior).
One tackle will be third-year starter Derek Gilcher (6-6, 300, senior), while the other side could be filled by David Sewell (6-2, 215, senior).
“All of the guys have to snap, all of the guys have to know every position and our blocking schemes aren’t that difficult that they can’t,” Allen said of the interior linemen. “At any time, if any of those guys goes down, we’re going to roll the next guy in and fill the spot with the next-best available.”
DEFENSE
“We’re a spread, gap-read team that wants to get to the ball fast — that’s why we make it simple and let our athletes run,” Allen said. “We block who we can and run away from those we can’t block.”
Defensively, down linemen will be noseman Moananu with Harper as a backup, along with ends McKinney, Mouad Elouaddi and Ezell Brown and possibly Micha Dukes, a sophomore coming out for the first time.
“We’re a blitzing-type team, so we’re coming from every angle and every different direction so these guys have to fill a gap and run with it,” Allen said.
Edmonds will play middle linebacker, Brent DeMattia will be the right-side ILB and Zack Coman will be left-side ILB. Maddox, Pickard and Kylan Wilson will be linebacker backups.
Safeties will be Haywood, Brantley and Matlock. Rushton may play one of the three safety spots or one of the two cornerback positions, where Campbell and Cizmar are also challenging.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Either junior Hamad Alhmeed and DeMattia will handle the kickoff and extra-point duties, while Brantley will punt.
OUTLOOK
With this Allenism, Liberty can’t fail: “We [the staff] have been coaching for a long time and we’ve been finding out that if we score enough points, we’ve got a great chance of winning. We’re going to try to keep ball in our hands and, when on defense, try to take it away from them.”