West's Late TD Propel's Liberty to 7-0 Win....
BEALETON, VA - The Liberty Eagles improved to 3-1 in the Cedar Run District with Friday night's 7-0 victory over the Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets. Dustin West scored the game's only touchdown from 4 yards out with 4:41 to go in the 4th quarter to improve the Eagles overall record to 4-3. With the loss, Osbourn Park fell to 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the district.
Corey Lillard led the way for the Eagles on both sides of the ball. Lillard rushed for 83 yards on 9 carries and was an intimidating force at linebacker all night long as he broke out the hit stick numerous times throughout the game.
Both teams had success running the ball. In addition to Lillard's 83 rushing yards, Mark Simpson piled up 68 yards on 13 carries. The Eagles found success behind the right side of their offensive line. Junior right tackle Shawn Otte cleared big holes for the Liberty backs all night and is having a very nice junior season.
Junior Shawn Khanamuenwai displayed great determination and solid feet en route to 136 yards on 30 carries. Khanamuenwai accounted for nearly all of the offense for the Yellow Jackets. Khanamuenwai has topped 100 yards in each of his starts since Alonzo Muse went down with a broken wrist and has given Coach Brian Beaty a real threat in the backfield.
Neither team had much luck moving the ball through the air. Osbourn Park senior quarterback Aaron Lee had a rough night going 7 for 17 for 36 yards. Wayne Conner also had a rough night missing on all 4 of his pass attempts. Two of Conner's 4 attempts landed in the hands of senior defensive back Kevon Peoples. Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets they were unable to get any points off of either of Peoples' interceptions.
Homecoming king Sam Ball-Whitfield made a spectacular play on defense as Aaron Lee fired what looked like a sure touchdown pass to Justin Tutt, at the last second Ball-Whitfield dove and deflected the pass giving the Eagles the ball back. At that point in the game the score was still 0-0. Ball-Whitfield continues to make big plays in his senior season, and is making a serious push for All-Gameday considerations.
Osbourn Park looks to rebound off of the loss next week as they host cross town rival Stonewall Jackson. Liberty looks to improve to 4-1 in the Cedar Run next Friday night as they travel to face a familiar foe in Culpeper. Exclusive coverage of Liberty high school football will begin at 6:45 next Friday, the 26th only on www.gamedaymagazine.com.
