Wyatt Earp had a posse. It turns out Wyatt Teller does too.
Liberty-Bealeton’s junior standout lineman who has his pick of college offers right now draws a lot of attention, and he was as good as advertised Friday night. But he’s got a lot of friends to help him up front. Along with Teller, senior linemen James Potts, Kenney Breckley and Travis Buzzo, all checking in at around 250 or bigger, played a big role in Liberty’s 42-14 victory over Monticello in the Region II, Division 3 semifinals Friday night.
“They’ve got some men up front,” said Monticello coach Rodney Redd. “A couple of those guys are definitely D-I players. Physically that’s the level of play we’ve got to get to up front. We showed flashes of it this year but we’ve got to get to the point where we’re playing consistent all the time.”
That group stepped up particularly on fourth downs defensively, coming up with four fourth down stops to end Monticello drives. The biggest stuff came on a critical goal line stand right at the beginning of the fourth quarter when the Mustangs, trailing 28-14, were threatening to cut the Liberty lead back to one score. With first and goal on the 7-yard line, Monticello took the ball down to the one on two straight Isaac Robinson runs, but the Eagles’ line stepped up on the next two plays, stopping Robinson twice, the second time for a loss of one.
“I do feel like we were the victim of a couple of spots early in the game but that last one there on the goal line they just flat kicked our butts up front,” Redd said.
Liberty had complete control of the game after that, driving 98 yards with a 20-yard Anthony Budd touchdown capping the drive. Budd, who was 49 yards away from topping 1,000 on the year, had a nearly flawless night running the ball, exploding for 242 yards and four touchdowns on just eight carries for an average of 30.2 yards per touch behind Liberty’s road-paving line. He broke off touchdowns of 74, 70, 22 and 20 yards in the performance.
“He had a big game,” said Liberty coach Tom Buzzo. “He rotates on offense because he’s a full-time defensive player and there’s another senior who played big tonight — real big.”
Aristotle Howard had 114 yards and a touchdown for Liberty too as the Eagles attempted just four passes and completed one on the opening drive for 15 yards. The 396 total rushing yards, however, were more than enough to get the job done. Especially with the inspired effort Liberty’s defense put together.
The pass rush and pressure that the big linemen create up front allow Liberty’s defensive backs to focus on taking away the big play. That was key against Monticello’s usually dynamic offense that managed to cut the lead to 20-14 on a touchdown drive that opened the second half.
“Our defense has been playing well all season long and we gave up two touchdowns to a team that’s averaging 41.5 points per game — I’m extremely proud of our defensive unit,” Buzzo said. “Monticello — that is as explosive an offense as I’ve coached against in 16 years.”
Monticello seemed to feel tackle Matt Hunt’s absence throughout. The senior suffered a devastating leg injury last week against Western Albemarle, leaving the Mustangs without the 6-foot-5, 300-pound first team All-Jefferson District tackle.
The Mustangs still managed solid numbers, but that was partially because they owned a hefty advantage in time of possession (nearly nine minutes more) and ran nearly twice as many plays as Liberty did, running 74 total plays to Liberty’s 39. The Eagles averaged 10.5 yards per play while Monticello managed just 4.4.
Isaac Robinson crossed the 2,000-yard barrier with a 120-yard effort. The senior is only the second running back in the school’s history to go over 2,000, with Takeem Hedgeman’s 2,892 yards during the 2007 state title run still the school and the area’s gold standard. Jhalil Mosley finished 12-for-26 for 161 yards and a touchdown while having to do most of his work on the run, either scrambling or on bootleg and rollout passes. Wideout Nathan DiGregorio put together a solid final high school game with 70 yards and a score on five catches. James Banks and Sam Patterson finished with 45 and 43 yards respectively.
