Liberty overcomes self-inflicted mistakes to shut out Shadow Ridge

Liberty secured a 42‑0 shutout victory over Shadow Ridge on Friday, despite being penalized 14 times for 165 yards. The game’s pivotal moment arrived when Shadow Ridge was flagged for roughing the punter, setting up a 13‑play drive that Ezra Sanelivi capped with a 6‑yard touchdown run with 9:14 left in the quarter to break a scoreless tie. “I deliberation the large play for america offensively was erstwhile we got the roughing-the-punter penalty, and that benignant of extended that thrust and we were capable to spell down and people and get a small momentum going,” Liberty manager Rich Muraco said. “But yeah, decidedly not our champion violative show to me.” Liberty then accelerated, going no‑huddle on the next series; Madden Delacruz connected with Selby Griego for a 40‑yard touchdown pass with 3:58 remaining in the first half, capping a five‑play, 65‑yard march. Following a defensive stop on fourth down, Anthony Alberro punched in a two‑yard score on a three‑play, 48‑yard drive, putting Liberty ahead 21‑0 with 1:59 left before intermission. “Anytime arsenic an discourtesy you tin alteration the tempo of the crippled it puts accent connected the defense,” Muraco said. “They can’t get the telephone successful that possibly they privation and you drawback them lined up a definite mode and telephone the close play. So it’s thing we enactment on. We could beryllium a tempo squad each the time, but our violative coordinator does a bully occupation of mixing it up.” Liberty’s defense dominated, limiting Shadow Ridge to 162 total offensive yards, only 64 of which came in the fourth quarter after Liberty had already built a 35‑0 lead and began running the clock. Muraco noted this marks the team’s fourth shutout of the season, praising the returning defensive core. “I deliberation this is our 4th shutout of the year,” Muraco said. “I knew our antiaircraft radical was special. We were truly bully past twelvemonth defensively, and 8 of the starters came backmost for this year.” Junior defensive lineman Tafatoluomalua Atualevao contributed a sack and a tackle for loss, while the Patriots added two defensive touchdowns: Maximus Paogofie returned a fumble 45 yards for a score and Champion‑James Ualesi intercepted a pass and raced 82 yards for another. Atualevao’s comment exactly: “It’s amazing,” Atualevao said of the antiaircraft TDs. “If 1 broadside of the shot is not scoring, past the different broadside has to prime up the slack.” Sanelivi rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns on ten carries; Delacruz completed 10 of 17 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown; interceptions were recorded by Carter Christensen and Rysen‑James Dacosin‑Arcala.