No. 2 Liberty clamps down on No. 3 Arbor View in win — PHOTOS

The Patriots’ defense made sure it didn’t matter.

Liberty, No. 2 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, held the third-ranked Aggies to 164 yards of offense en route to a 24-6 road victory.

“They really help our offense,” Liberty senior Andre Porter said of the team’s defense. “When our offense is doing bad, they’re always there to make sure we’re still in the game. They’re always getting stops. That’s been like that for a while. Our defense has been very consistent with us and been able to help our offense all the time.”

Arbor View’s top two quarterbacks were out with injury, so third-stringer Sean Griese made his first start. The Patriots made sure it wasn’t a comfortable one, sacking Griese five times and making sure he had little time to find an open receiver.

“When you have an inexperienced quarterback, the speed’s a little faster on varsity,” Porter said. “So when we know it’s third-and-long, we’re peeling our ears back and we’re coming for the quarterback no matter what.”

Offensively, Liberty (7-2, 4-1 5A Division I) did a good job on the ground, racking up 185 yards on 34 carries against the Aggies (3-5, 2-3). But things didn’t go as well in the passing game, as senior quarterback Tyrese Smith completed just one pass in the second half. He finished 8-for-14 for 145 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

“We were running the ball great, but you’ve got to be able to execute play-action pass and our receivers just weren’t meshing with Tyrese,” Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. “They were running wrong routes or routes at the wrong depth, and that throws the ball off. It looks like Tyrese is at fault, but it’s really not his fault.”

Senior Isaiah Lauofo led the way on the ground with 127 yards on 20 carries, including a 15-yard TD run to cap the team’s opening drive.

“He’s always ran hard,” Porter said of the 5-foot-7-inch, 185-pound Lauofo. “He’s a mismatch with a lot of people, because he’s so little, but also he has a lot more power with him. He’s not a one-trick pony. He can do a lot of things. He can juke you, he can run you over. We depend on him a lot to be able to win games and get our run game going.”

Smith did connect on a 48-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, finding a wide open Jayden Robertson down the seam for a score that put the Patriots up 16-0 with 9:22 to go in the half.

But that was the only catch of the night for they dynamic Robertson, forcing Liberty to lean heavily on Lauofo and the rushing attack.

“When things aren’t going right, we have an alternative,” Muraco said. “We can get in our heavy set and we can run the ball and we’re physical up front. And with a running back like Isaiah, he’s so good at that. He sees the holes, and he’s tough to bring down. It’s hard for one guy to bring him down. He’s a huge part of our offense.”

Porter had four catches for 65 yards and also scored on a 2-yard run. He also had one of the team’s five sacks. Emarion Jones added two sacks for the Patriots.

Arbor View’s touchdown came on a play in which Griese was nearly sacked and the Aggies nearly turned it over. But Griese was able to roll right to avoid pressure and heave the ball downfield, where Jayden Williams made a leaping catch.

But Williams then fumbled the ball forward inside the 20-yard line. As players from teams scrambled for the ball, it was knocked forward again and ended up in the end zone. After a discussion among the officials, they ruled Arbor View had recovered for a touchdown that cut the lead to 16-6 with 8:30 to play in the first half.

“If you look at it on film, it looked like we recovered it,” Muraco said. “But still, the guy got open and credit to the quarterback making a good throw. That happens when guys scramble around. So we’ll take one bad play tonight.”