By John Bassetti

sports @vindy.com

LIBERTY

LaBrae let Liberty know that there was some payback coming for last year’s 34-20 beating — and it didn’t take long as the Vikings (6-0) jumped out to a 35-0 halftime score en route to a 49-13 All-American Conference Blue Tier victory on Friday night.

“We kind of announced our presence with a little bit of force tonight and took care of some business against a league rival,” LaBrae coach John Armeni said. “That goes in cycles because Liberty had a really special team last year and they still have a pretty good team this year,” he said in specifying that the numbers in LaBrae’s 2017 loss to Liberty were flip-flopped in Friday’s game.

“We gave up 426 yards rushing [and 526 yards total] last year. We put 526 on our scouting report and I said it every day in practice, so we made that the priority. Until the end [of Friday’s game] with young kids in, we absolutely, positively shut them down. That’s where you hang your hat. We didn’t need to score 49 points to win this game, so I think that’s what we pride ourselves on: fly-to-the-football defense.”

With a 3-0 AAC Blue Tier record, the win put LaBrae in the driver’s seat with Newton Falls next. On Friday, LaBrae outgained Liberty in total yards, 460-210.

Kent Wolford completed 11 of 17 passes for 233 yards, while Colton Stoneman had 17 carries for 115 yards rushing (including two TD runs) and recovered a fumble that set up his 32-yard halfback TD pass to Benton Tennant. Stoneman also two catches for 24 yards.

Wolford also ran for two short TDs and had a 76-yard TD pass play to Tennant, who had four receptions for 138 yards.

Again, Armeni stressed the importance of LaBrae’s defense.

“Offense comes and goes — it comes in spurts. There’s going to be games when you play good defenses [so the offense comes slower]. You win big games and you win league titles and you win playoff games with good people. That’s one of those things I’ve been saying for months now: we have to be able to stop the run.”

LaBrae’s defensive front included ends Tyler Stephens and Damian Airwyke and tackles Zion Flanigan and Nate McCroby.

The offensive line comprised center Jordan Brewster, guards Zion Flanigan and Riley McCleary and tackles McCroby and Konner Johnston.

As linebacker, McCleary intercepted a pass in the first half

Of Stoneman, Armeni said: “He’s kind of our utility man who does a little bit of everything. He can throw, he can run, he can catch and he can block and, on defense, he’s our strong-side linebacker.”

The Vikings took it to the Leopards right off the bat.

“They came in loaded for bear,” Liberty coach Chet Allen said. “We were the champs and they wanted the title back, so being the contender, they fought as hard as they could to get that title back, but we didn’t answer, we didn’t answer the bell. The fight was not in us today. We thought we were prepared and knew what they were going to do, but we weren’t ready for their ferociousness and that’s what got us.”

In the second half, quarterback Migel Burgess scored on runs of 52 and 45 yards for Liberty (4-2, 2-1).