Liberty knocks out Chaparral 54-0

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 | midnight

Liberty’s Ty Byrd had a pair of first half touchdown runs Friday night and the Patriots opened a 34-point halftime lead in a 54-0 victory against host Chaparral.

Byrd had scoring runs of 20 and 7 yards in the first half outburst and quarterback Samuel Tai added a 3-yard touchdown run and 11-yard scoring strike to Dylan Rogers with 23.3 seconds left in the half for a 34-0 halftime advantage.

Teu Tai added a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Samson Toalei had two of Liberty’s three first half interceptions.

The first half performance was exactly what Liberty (1-1) was striving for. The Patriots hung with Legacy in their season opener on Aug. 28, but had four interceptions in struggling to put points on the board once they got the ball inside Legacy’s 20-yard line.

Those struggles didn’t continue against Chaparral (0-2). Byrd’s first touchdown came on a fourth down play with 6:43 to play in the initial quarter and the Patriots continued to convert the rest of the evening.

“We knew from watching film that we were bigger than them up front,” Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. “We knew that if we limited our turnovers and used our size to our advantage, we’d wear them out.”

The Patriots didn’t let up in the second half, including a pair of touchdowns from freshman Niko Kapeli. Kapeli finished with 172 total yards — 89 rushing and 83 receiving.