Liberty Bell’s Alex Tareski, No. 67, readied to pounce on an ACH fumble, one of two Warrior bobbles the Mountain Lions recovered.
The Liberty Bell High School football team’s season ended with a 56-16 loss to Almira-Coulee-Hartline (ACH), one of the state’s best 8-man teams, but the Mountain Lions finished the season with a winning record of 5-4.
The visiting Warriors raced to a 44-0 halftime lead in the Nov. 2 game, played in a fair amount of daylight because it started at 4 p.m. at Mountain Lion Stadium. The second half was played under a running clock, and ACH substituted liberally.
Trailing 56-0, Liberty Bell struck twice in the final 4 minutes of the final quarter of the final game. Freshman quarterback Riley Lidey found junior Tyler Darwood for a nicely executed touchdown pass with 3:49 left in the game. The Mountain Lions recovered an onside kick, and with just over 2 minutes left senior Magnus Treise broke loose on a 35-yard scoring run. Liberty Bell added two 2-point conversions.
Earlier in the game, two Liberty Bell fumble recoveries slowed down the Warriors somewhat. And a 95-yard return of an intercepted Lidey pass for an ACH touchdown was nullified by a penalty. ACH also recovered a couple of Mountain Lion fumbles.
Before the game, Liberty Bell’s five seniors were honored: Treise, Alex Whites, Konnor Doran, Jed McMillan and Caleb Simmons. Also honored were the senior members of the cheer squad, Shelby White, Shelby Vintin and Sabyl Curtis.
