It was a slow and uninspiring start for more than three quarters in the 2025 season opener for the Liberty Flames, but the team would score three touchdowns while keeping the visitors off the score board in the fourth quarter to defeat the Maine Black Bears, 28-7, in front of 20,337 fans at Williams Stadium Saturday evening. The game continued a trend of strong fourth quarter play under third-year head coach Jamey Chadwell. Last year, Liberty outscored its opponents 124-69 in the final period.
“We’re obviously pleased with the victory,” said Chadwell following the win. “It’s always challenging in today’s world and your game one because you’ve got so many new parts to mesh. I was really pleased with how our guys played hard the whole four quarters. We did a good job of not beating ourselves. We kept executing. We knew it’d be a four-quarter battle. I was pleased with how we
finished. I think there’s some other things we have to improve on.”
Liberty opened the game with an 18-play, 47-yard drive that chewed up over eight minutes of game clock. An offensive pass interference call moved Liberty out of the red zone. Three plays later, Jay Billingsley missed his initial kick as a Flame, a 37-yard field goal attempt that was pushed wide right. The Black Bears responded with an 11-play drive that went 42 yards. Facing a fourth and three, Maine elected to go for it but Oklahoma transfer corner Damond Harmon got into the backfield to sack quarterback Carter Peevy to force the turnover on downs.
Following a scoreless opening quarter, Maine got on the scoreboard when Sincere Baines broke free through the middle of Liberty’s defense and scampered 77 yards for the first score of the game. With the score still at 7-0, CJ Bazile forced a turnover when he got into the Maine backfield and sacked Peevy, knocking the ball free that he was able to fall on for the turnover. It allowed the home team to knot the score just before intermission. Vasko connected on three straight pass attempts, including a nine-yard strike to Reese Smith in the right corner of the end zone.
“It was a huge momentum swing,” Chadwell said of Bazile’s strip sack. “Football’s about momentum and confidence. I don’t think our guys ever wavered, but we needed something good to happen. They were going to get the ball out of the second half. You don’t want to be down 7-0. To be able to get the ball there and get a touchdown and tie it up, that was a win there. I think that propelled us into halftime. We made some adjustments we needed to make, and we were able to come away with the victory.”
After halftime, Liberty held Maine scoreless while the offense finally got on track, scoring touchdowns on its final three possessions of the game. The Flames’ first two drives in the second half resulted in a punt and turnover on downs. Those two drives started inside Liberty’s own 10-yard line following Maine punts.
Liberty took its first lead of the new season on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Vasko to Evan Dickens. The running back got a pass to the sideline and raced down the field to beat two defenders to the end zone, giving Liberty a 14-7 edge with 10:24 left in the game. Two plays later, Amarian Williams intercepted a Peevy pass setting the offense up with good field position. The Flames went up by two scores on the ensuing drive with a 16-yard pass from Vasko to Donte Lee. The final score of the game came after Maine turned it over on downs and Vasko rushed up the middle for a 13-yard score with less than three minutes to play.
“I felt like we were in control the whole second half, but the score didn’t show it,” said Chadwell as he reflected on Dickens’ touchdown score. “I felt like we were never in a situation where we were in trouble. That was a big play. That was third down, and that was a great call by Coach Korn. Our defense was playing well. Once we started scoring, it just gave them more and more juice.”
After being outgained 163-161 in the first half, Liberty outgained Maine 230-153 in the final 30 minutes.
Coastal Carolina transfer quarterback Ethan Vasko picked up the win in his first start behind center for the Flames. The redshirt-junior completed 19 of his 33 pass attempts for 197 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the team with 13 carries for 63 yards and another score. His three touchdown passes tied a career high with his last game with three touchdowns coming on Nov. 30, 2024 at Georgia State. His four total touchdowns are tied for the most by any Liberty quarterback in his debut as a Flame, tying Antwan Chiles (1993), Travis Wilemon (1993), Stephon Masha (2014), Buckshot Calvert (2016), and Chris Ferguson (2020).
“I thought he finished strong and stood in there and did a good job of finishing,” Chadwell said of Vasko. “I think early on, he had a lot of nerves and missed some throws he knows he can make that probably could have opened the game up for us early. I was pleased how he stayed calm and relaxed. He didn’t panicked. He just kept playing. He did a good job of keeping them up and not getting frustrated. I think that calmed us down there. It helped us to stay consistent, and we were able to finish the game we wanted to.”
Georgia Tech transfer Evan Dickens had 10 carries for 34 yards and scored his first career collegiate touchdown on a 24-yard sideline pass play from Vasko. Caden Williams rushed for a career high 52 yards on nine carries.
Reese Smith was Vasko’s top targets in the game, finishing the contest with six receptions on six targets for 46 yards and a score. Donte Lee had three catches for 36 yards and 16 yard-touchdown catch.
Aidan Vaughan tied for the team lead with six tackles. CJ Bazile also had six tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss.
The win is the Flames’ program-record sixth straight season-opening victory and ninth in the last 10 years as Liberty improved to 10-0 against FCS opponents since joining the FBS ranks in 2018. Chadwell is 16-0 in regular season games played on Saturday during his time at Liberty.
Liberty will open Conference USA play against the defending conference champs next weekend when the Flames travel to Jacksonville, Alabama to face off against Jax State. Kickoff is set for 12 noon ET at Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium. Since the two teams joined CUSA in 2023, the visiting team has won both series meetings. Liberty knocked off Jax State, 31-13, in Jacksonville in 2013, while the Gamecocks picked up the win, 31-21, in Lynchburg in 2024.
