Football

Tribe pride

League win over Ellenville electrifies huge crowd on Pride Weekend

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — In a moment forever frozen in photos that capture tears of joy and camaraderie, the words Liberty Pride took on a newfound resonance. For the Indians’ football team and their hordes of adoring fans, pride returned in all of its glory following Liberty’s electric 16-8 Class B II win over Ellenville on October 12. It had been sorely missed.

Once regaled as a nexus of enviable athletics prowess, Liberty has endured years of struggles. But in 2005, coach Jim O’Connor’s dream of bringing Liberty football back to prominence began with the program’s reinstatement. For the past two years prior to this season, Liberty players toughed their way through week after week of grueling practice and 17 losses with only one win.

But this year, all of that work began to pay off and wins followed suit. A week ago, Liberty nearly knocked off Highland. In this game against Ellenville, Liberty was playing for its season. The game highlighted Pride Weekend, a panoply of events that bolstered the school’s revitalized spirit. The possibility of entering the mix for a sectional berth added even more energy to the already fired-up Indians.

Following the win over the Blue Devils, who had only one prior loss to date, O’Connor told his team, “You have come the Jericho Mile. You fought through strife and came alive in the second half.” To the seniors on the team, sparked by the emotional leadership of running back Trevor Tompkins, O’Connor added, “You won your last home football game on this field and you’ll remember that for the rest of your lives.”

Ellenville planned to set aside the Indians, a team they had filmed three times leading up to this division fray. But as Blue Devils’ coach Tony Borriello duly noted about Liberty, “They played their hearts out.”

That they did.

The win briefly put Liberty in the mix for a sectional playoff berth, but with O’Neill’s stunning win over Highland, that hope for a postseason afterlife quickly dimmed. That said, nothing can diminish Liberty’s accomplishments.

The game was the first football game played under the lights at Liberty in 43 years and an electrified crowd was on hand to see their team improve to 4-2 (2-2 OCIAA).

Prior to the game, Liberty’s 11 seniors posed on the sideline for pictures with their parents. They included Pedro Alvarez, Shane Fitzsimmons, Justin Katz, Fred Kelder, Justen Mills, Abimelec Rubio, Joey Ruiz, Trevor Tompkins, Brian Williams, Jesse Williams and Roland Yosufuf.

After winning the toss, Liberty wisely elected to defer, opting to put its defense on the field, which would stymie Ellenville repeatedly throughout the night with key stops, sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. It created havoc for quarterback Brian Burns, who had to rush his passes, and deal with Liberty’s advantage at the line of scrimmage.

Despite good initial runs by Ellenville backs to the Liberty 31, the Indians’ defense stiffened and Ellenville punted. That would be the template for Ellenville’s offensive efforts, which were marked by the inability to sustain a drive against a fired-up Liberty defense.

Two potential touchdowns by Liberty denied the Indians a first-half lead. First, a pass from Joey Ruiz to Dustin VanLieu in the wide open left flat was overthrown. In the second quarter, Ruiz threw to an open Justen Mills, but the drop cost the Indians another potential six. Both players would make amends in the second half.

Ellenville had its hands full with Liberty running back Trevor Tompkins, especially on counter plays. Tompkins racked up 117 yards on 16 carries. A nine-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter would prove to be the difference maker. Ryan and Dustin VanLieu got their fair share of carrying the rock as well.

It was Ryan who bullied his way over the goal line in the third quarter behind a blistering block from Tompkins that gave Liberty its first score. A perfect pass from Ruiz to Ivan Rivera accounted for the first two-point conversion. A Tompkins run garnered the second conversion and gave Liberty its 16-point total.

Both teams made key stops as the first half ended with a scoreless tie.

Halftime brought its own brand of excitement with peewee football, as kids from Liberty and Roscoe played to the cheers of an appreciative crowd.

Rejuvenated Liberty, fresh from its halftime sermon, capitalized on its first drive, which began on its own 37. Big runs by Ryan VanLieu and Tompkins gave the Indians a first at the Blue Devils’ 28. Dustin VanLieu converted on a fourth-down run to keep the drive alive. With 5:53 to go in the third quarter, Ryan VanLieu took it in from the two. The conversion made it 8-0.

Ellenville got it moving into Liberty territory, but a big hit by Liberty’s Brian Williams threw the Devils back. Mills became a monster on defense as he hit Ellenville’s Pedro Rivera on a reverse. Then Ellenville tried to strike it rich with a pass to Rivera, but Dustin VanLieu dragged him down far short of the needed yardage and Ellenville punted again.

Liberty’s next drive faltered, but its defense didn’t with big hits by Williams, Tony Hernandez and Connor Hinton. Burns was subsequently sacked on Ellenville’s 16 by Hinton. A fumble on the punt attempt forced Andrew Hyatt to get off a very short kick that put Liberty at the Ellenville 20.

Ryan VanLieu gave the Indians a first and goal at the nine, and Tompkins took it in from there at 9:03 to make it 14-0. His end run on the conversion made it 16-0.

A suddenly fired-up Ellenville quickly moved to the Liberty 33 for a fourth and one. A pair of offsetting penalties, including a dead-ball foul against Ellenville and a pass-interference call against Liberty, gave Ellenville a first at the 30.

Three plays later, Eric Thayer ran it in for Ellenville’s first score with 3:42 to go. A pass to Mark Sassencheid made the two-point conversion good. Ellenville trailed by one score.

Liberty’s Abi Rubio recovered the squib kick. Tompkins gained yards and ate up the clock. Liberty’s drive stalled on a failed fourth down, which gave the ball back to Ellenville with a little more than a minute to go. Great pressure by Mills forced an incomplete pass. He followed that with a sack. Dustin VanLieu picked off Burns’ final pass, and Liberty took a knee twice to run out the clock.

Liberty players celebrated effusively. O’Connor’s stirring words, raised helmets, grins and tears became the stuff of memory as the Indians left the field in the chill of the October night.

Ellenville’s record is now 5-2 (2-1 OCIAA). Its only prior loss came against Section One’s Tappan Zee.

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