There was something for everyone on Friday evening, Oct. 31, as Mount Si’s football team fell, 25-20, on the road at Liberty.
Turnovers, big plays, costly penalties and missed opportunities were all in abundance as the two clubs battled for home field advantage in the opening round of the state playoffs. After all the fun, though, Mount Si this week finds the road to a state title a bit more difficult following Friday’s dramatic finish.
Trey Wheeler threw a 51-yard touchdown strike to Chandler Jenkins with about two minutes left in regulation time, to help rally Liberty from a 20-19 deficit for a 25-20 victory over the Wildcats. Liberty gets to play at home this week while Mount Si travels to play Peninsula, the number-two seed from the South Puget Sound League, in Gig Harbor.
“You play big games, you can’t turn the ball over, and we did,” said Mount Si coach Charlie Kinnune. “We needed to avoid the negative plays and we just had too many negative plays.”
The Wildcats got things started on their opening possession, but it did not come without a few bumps in the road. A sack of Mount Si quarterback Tyson Riley by Liberty’s Turner Chatterton put the Wildcats in a tough spot, needing a fourth-down pass reception by Alex Hiebert to keep the drive going. It finished with a four-yard scamper into the end zone by Sean Snead, the first of two touchdowns by the senior in the game for the Wildcats, and following a point after by Tucker Edwards-King, it was 7-0.
Liberty attempted to respond on their opening drive, but Mount Si’s defense was up to the challenge, forcing a fumble on the Wildcat six-yard line, which Mount Si recovered.
Scarlet and gray marched back down the field, but then turned the ball over themselves. A Riley pass was picked off by lineman Dan Eck, and the Patriots took full advantage, scoring on the resulting possession, with a three-yard touchdown run by Greg Ericksen on the first play of the second quarter. Liberty, however, missed their point after, and Mount Si remained in the lead 7-6. The Wildcats extended that lead to 13-6 off an 11-yard touchdown pass from Riley to Rossco Castagno, who set the touchdown up with a huge kickoff return back to the Patriot 16.
Liberty tied the game 13-13 with about two minutes left in the first half with a one-yard touchdown run by Joseph Yea. The Patriots attempted to take the lead on a field goal attempt at halftime. Kicker Keegan Bennett hit it from 35 yards out, but it was waved off on a Mount Si penalty before the snap. Bennett then tried it from 30 yards away, only to have the snap sail on him, costing him a chance to kick, and the game remained tied into halftime.
Wheeler threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Richard Crespo midway through the third quarter to put Liberty in the lead 19-13. Mount Si’s Snead had over 200 yards on the game; 77 of those came on a touchdown run late in the frame which, after another Edwards-King extra point, put the Wildcats back in front 20-19.
“We just ran power all day and [I] just ran it right up the middle and it was open,” Snead said. “I just ran.”
The Wildcats had a solid fourth-quarter drive, but a false start call helped to stall it. The Patriots had one more chance, and they made the most of it. The pass from Wheeler to Jenkins was caught on the run by the receiver, who went into the end zone untouched to put Liberty in the lead to stay. They attempted a two-point conversion, but it failed. The Wildcats had one last chance, but a hail-Mary pass on fourth down fell incomplete with about 90 seconds left in regulation, and that was all she wrote. Liberty then ran out the clock.
Fans can expect nothing different this week from Mount Si despite the loss.
