Eagles Prove Too Much For Falcons In 22-6 Win
(BEALETON, VIRGINIA) - The hype about the annual Bird Bowl was lived up to on Saturday September 2nd, 2006 in Bealeton, Virginia. While the final score would make you believe the game wasn't close, the truth is, until the 4th quarter, both teams had their chances to win. Liberty got on the scoreboard first on a 34 yard touchdown run by running back Myles Reid early in the second quarter. Reid took the handoff around the left side of his offensive line and found a crease, then made the kind of cut you see on Sundays and bolted to the end-zone. The extra point was missed and the score remained 6-0 until late in the second quarter when Eagle kicker Andy Smith added a field goal to help Liberty head into the halftime break up 9-0.
Fauquier was in the red-zone (inside the Liberty 20 yard line) twice and came away without scoring any points. Lost opportunities would become the theme for the Falcons as they squandered too many scoring chances and great field position. Falcon quarterback Kyle McCartin helped Fauquier get on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter with a beautiful 64 yard touchdown scamper out of the shotgun formation . McCartin showed some great speed and athletic ability on the play. The Eagles kept a 3 point lead when the Falcons missed the extra point after McCartin's touchdown run.
With about 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, Fauquier took over on their own 25 yard line after forcing an Eagle punt. The Falcons had the momentum in their favor and the offense was moving the ball effectively against the smaller defensive front for the Eagles. On the first snap, the Falcons fumbled the ball in the backfield, and Liberty recovered the football, in what turned out to be the biggest play in the game. Eagle Myles Reid would then take the lead to 16-6 when he scored his second touchdown of the game on another run to the left side of the offensive formation.
Liberty would add another touchdown with quarterback Jeremy Ulrich scored on a 5 yard bootleg run with under 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. The Eagles walked away with a hard fought 22-6 victory and it was a special one for the Liberty program and their head coach Tommy Buzzo.
“We're excited, this was a big game for us. We broke in our new field today and we had a lot of people out here supporting us and it was great to get a win. We need to get better this week in practice and we need to get ready to play a good Stafford team,” Buzzo said.
The Liberty Eagles opened their season at home and also introduced a new field surface comparable to the best fields in the NFL and College Football. The Eagles received a generous donation from one of their biggest supporters, Kip Hull, who financed the new field for Liberty High School.
With the win, Liberty improved to 1-0 on the season and Fauquier fell to 0-1. Listen next week to the Liberty Eagles football game against Stafford right here online at www.GamedayMagazine.com with Charlie Goode and Miller Bennington, the new Eagles broadcast team on the TCC Sports Network powered by Verizon….
