Football

Briefs

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — Tri-Valley pushed its record to 2-1 with a convincing win over an inexperienced Liberty team, despite the continued sidelining of its quarterback Charlie Edwards.

The Bears wasted no time in scoring, beginning with a four-yard score from Kevin Smith in the first quarter. Kicker Alex Calabrese hit the point after touchdown (PAT) and would get five more through the uprights in eight attempts before the day was through. Tri-Valley’s defense stymied Liberty and gave the Bears the lion’s share of possession.

Brendan Musa took it in from a yard out to make it 14-0 with Calabrese’s PAT. Then, quarterback Dustin VanLieu, who benefited from a week of practice at calling signals, had a trio of touchdown (TD) passes, including a 22-yarder to Gary North, a 14-yard strike to Musa and another 14-yard pass to Sean Drown.

Liberty’s Andre Brand scored on an eight-yard run to make it 34-6 at the half.

After Musa forced a Liberty fumble in the end zone, Bo Murphy recovered it for a TD. Musa followed with his second TD of the day on a four-yard dive play.

Trevor Tompkins made the loss far more palatable with a pair of second-half TDs, one on a five-yard run and the other on a 60-yard halfback option pass to Marcus Hunter.

The Bears had the last word as they capitalized on a bad snap from center by Liberty that resulted in a safety.

Tompkins rushed for 123 yards on 10 carries and had one TD.

Van Lieu completed seven-of-eight passes for 138 yards and threw for three TDs. Musa led the Bears’ ground attack with 98 yards on 16 carries. Smith ran 72 yards on 17 carries and Kyle Byrne had 48 yards on nine carries. Tri-Valley will host winless LMR on September 23, while Liberty will host John S. Burke Catholic 2-1 (0-1 OCIAA).