Lions hold off Redhawks rally
September 28, 2020
After a month’s delay, the football team kicked off its 2020 season Friday night at the Ford Center against the Reedy Lions. It didn’t look promising in the first half as the Redhawks fell behind by 21 points on two different occasions before a furious 2nd half rally fell just short with the Redhawks losing 35-27 loss.
“I was really proud of our response in the second half, ” head coach Matt Sweina said. “It is much easier to fold than to fight and we fought hard to put ourselves in position to win the game. We talked at halftime about how the 2nd half, win or lose, could serve as a catalyst for our season. We know that we have it in us to compete, to not give up, and to win.”
That mindset was on display in the 4th quarter when sophomore Keldric Luster, making his first varsity start, broke at least five tackles on a 51-yard touchdown run, his 4th touchdown run of the game.
“I got my team together and told them this is not the same Liberty team people have been seeing for the past few years,” Luster said. “This team we have is special and we were gonna make this comeback happen no matter what, but unfortunately we fought hard but came up a little short, but we fought hard and never gave up and came back in the second half with a winning mindset.”
Although the team didn’t come out with the win, some players such as senior Prince Ughoh, see this as a way to motivate themselves.
“This close but devastating loss gives us hope and inspiration that this year will be different,” Ugoh said. “Motivate us to work much harder and pay more attention to details during practice.”
Friday the team travels to Greenville High School for its second non-district game of the season. Between now and then, Swinnea says the team has some work to do.
“So much of what went wrong last week was self-inflicted,” Swienna said. “This week is about eliminating any confusion, honing our skills, and executing at a high level.”
