The Liberty Flames went to Troy, Alabama to face off against the Troy Trojans, and came out victorious, 21-13. Liberty’s offense and defense came out to play with a stronger performance on both ends of the ball. After planting a two-score lead, Liberty moved to a conservative offensive approach. Troy tried to fight back at the end, but ultimately came up short.
- Liberty’s defense let Troy’s offense power its way to the endzone on their first drive to open the scoring 7-0.
- After the Flames defense giving up points quick, the offense drove the ball down the field and scoring off a 32-yard touchdown pass from Malik Willis to Demario Douglas. Willis looking poised and more comfortable in the pocket.
- After the defense gave up points quickly to the opposing Trojans, they flipped a switch to force them to punt on back to back drives.
- In between Liberty’s defense forcing Troy to punt, the offense was able to go back to their roots and run the ball down the field, and finish it with a 2-yard touchdown pass by Willis to Jerome Jackson on a fourth and goal conversion.
- Nearing halftime, Liberty looked poised to score for the third time in the game, but Troys defense awoke and forced Liberty to make their second punt of the night to stoped the scoring at 14-7.
- running back Shedro Louis impressed his versatility in not just the run game, but also the passing game, as he had 28 yards on three receptions.
- Throughout the third quarter, Liberty and Troy were in a stalemate. Neither team scored, but in the fourth quarter the Flames broke through that stalemate to get their third touchdown of the night, with a bull-rush down the field. The drive finished off with a 4-yard touchdown rush by Willis.
- Liberty then forced the Trojans to punt the ball on their first drive of the fourth quarter.
- The Flames were poised to be conservative and drain the game-clock. They managed to drain about 6 minutes of the game-clock. After making a slow drive up the field, they got halted on Troy’s 15-yard line. Liberty then decided to perform a 32-yard field goal kick, but the attempt was blocked by Troy.
- In a game-deciding drive for Troy, Trojans quarterback Taylor Powell completed a 35-yard pass completion to land them on Liberty’s 1-yard line.
- After Liberty stuffed Troy at the line, Liberty linebacker Storey Jackson sacked Trojans quarterback Powell for a loss of 10-yards.
- Despite the sack, Powell stayed poised and threw the 11-yard touchdown to tight end Deyunkrea Lewis for his second touchdown of the night, and tighten Liberty’s lead 21-13.
- Despite Troy’s efforts, Liberty outplayed them to secure their second win of the season.
- Liberty’s star-quarterback Malik Willis threw 13-18, 154 yards, two passing touchdowns and ran the ball for 93-yards and one touchdown.
- Liberty’s defense finished the night with five sacks and an interception, while holding Troy to 232 total yards offensively.
Liberty will return to Lynchburg next week for a home game against Old Dominion Sept. 18, at 6 p.m.
