By Mike Maltais
The Methow Valley doesn’t need any more lightning just now, thank you just the same, but someone forgot to tell the like-named football team from La Salle High School that bolted into town and zapped Liberty Bell High School’s varsity gridiron crew, 52-7, in the Mountain Lions’ non-league home opener last Friday (Sept. 12).
The 1A Lightning and supporters from the Yakima-area private Catholic school were aboard twin 56-passenger A&A motor coaches that rolled into Liberty Bell at 4 p.m. on game day and disgorged copious quantities of non-perishable food items for The Cove Food Bank plus a large roster of players.
How large was the roster?
Glad you asked: The roster was so large it had to be printed on a roll of paper; it was so large that the Lightning had more guys warming the bench than the Mountain Lions had on their whole team; it was so large …well, you get the point.
On his first play from scrimmage La Salle senior quarterback Daniel Boutillier connected for a long pass play touchdown and the Lightning never flamed out en route to a 26-0 first half lead. In the third quarter, Mountain Lions senior running back Jorge Lara broke loose for a 60-plus TD run that put seven points on the Liberty Bell scoreboard following Lara’s successful extra point kick.
It was a busy night for Lara who, in addition to scoring Liberty Bell’s only points, was credited with multiple tackles and some long-yardage fourth-down punts.
The Lightning kept moving down the field, however, and after leading 44-7 at the end of the third quarter, extended their lead to 45 points by the 52-7 final.
Liberty Bell will host Tonasket at 7 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 19) when the former 1A Caribou Trail League Tigers play their first game as a 2B team at the Mountain Lions’ league home opener.
