Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

High School Football:

Can Liberty football again put up a fight against Gorman?

Liberty Beats Basic in Sunrise Regional

L.E. Baskow

Liberty High School QB Kenyon Oblad #7 celebrates a score with Bryan Roland #3 during the Sunrise Regional championship game on Friday, November 21, 2014.

Basic and Liberty Sunrise Regional Game

Liberty High School QB Kenyon Oblad  #7 fights through the Basic defense on Friday, November 21, 2014. Launch slideshow »
Prep Sports Now

Trophy talk

Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer wonder what happened to the Sunrise and (maybe) Sunset trophies while discussing the Division 1A state championship and Division 1 semifinals.

The Liberty High football team took Bishop Gorman’s best punch. And it punched back.

Well, until the fourth quarter.

Five-time defending state champion Gorman hasn’t lost to a Nevada opponent since 2008, but against Liberty in the 2011 state semifinals, it was anything but a leisurely victory. Liberty twice had first-half leads and trailed by just one point midway through the third quarter before Gorman scored 28 unanswered points to close the game in a 22-point win.

When Liberty coach Rich Muraco evaluated his program that offseason, he came to a simple conclusion: To beat Gorman, Liberty had to mimic some of Gorman’s program-building philosophies.

Three years later, when they meet again in the state semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at Rancho, Muraco feels his team is more equipped to give Gorman a challenge.

One look into the mirror helped him change his approach to running the program.

“We sat down as a staff and asked, ‘How are we going to compete with them?’” Muraco said.

Muraco became aggressive in scheduling quality out-of-state opponents, knowing the only way to prepare to face Gorman was to play teams on the same level as the Nevada power. The past two seasons, Liberty has played regionally respected Hamilton High of Arizona, and while they have lost both meetings, the score was respectable.

Earlier this season, Liberty had chances to beat Hamilton but couldn’t score in a 21-0 defeat.

After the loss, Muraco delivered a message to players: “That is exactly how it is going to be against Gorman,” he said. “You can’t make those kind of mistakes. You are going to have to capitalize."

"Hopefully it pays of this week,” he said.

Gorman, of course, loads its schedule with a who’s who of national opponents. This year, Gorman went 6-0 in those games, propelling itself to a No. 1 national ranking. If the Gaels win Saturday and then again in next week’s state championship game, they’d likely by the mythical national champions.

Beating Liberty, though, will be no easy task.

Gorman has surrendered just 26 points to eight local opponents, including easily handling Centennial (52-7) and Arbor View (56-6) in consecutive weeks to capture the Sunset Regional championship. But five-time Sunrise champion Liberty is a new challenge.

Liberty has big and physical linemen and plenty of solid pieces at the skilled positions. Junior Bryan Roland and sophomore Ethan Dedeaux play both ways at wide receiver and defensive back, with a similar skill set as on Gorman’s roster of multiple Division I prospects.

“Coach Muraco does a great job,” Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said. “The thing you have to respect about him, he is tough and he is going to take chances. They are going to do some different things to make a statement.”

Gorman has been making a statement all season.

Whether it is senior running back Russell Booze gaining yards with ease or quarterback Tate Martell dissecting opposing defenses with plenty of receiving options in the passing game, Gorman can seemingly score at will. It has scored 656 points in 13 games, a figure that’s even more impressive considering all eight games against local schools have ended by the mercy rule of a running clock.

In those games against local schools, most opposing players are defeated before kickoff. That won’t be the case with Liberty.

“The kids understand, the coaches understand, everyone understands: No. 1, you have to believe you have a chance,” Muraco said. “I think our team does. They are going in not defeated before the game starts.”

That mentality adds a different excitement level to the annual Thanksgiving weekend game. Both teams are eager for the challenge — Gorman to get one step closer to completing its undefeated season and Liberty to show its program’s growth since 2011.

“They can play smash-mouth football, too. It is going to be fun game,” Gorman linebacker Nela Otukolo said. “We are going to come out and try to out-physical them.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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