With goal still within reach, Liberty visits Del Sol

At the top of the list of team goals in Liberty's football locker room is a rather lofty one.

Win the state title.

It's also one that many outside the Patriots' program might have scoffed at Liberty accomplishing this year. Before last week, the Patriots had never even been to the postseason, let alone win it.

No one's laughing now.

Liberty (8-3) visits Del Sol (10-1) in a Sunrise Region semifinal at 7 tonight. Foothill (6-5) is at Basic (10-1) in the other semifinal. The winners meet at 1 p.m. Nov. 28 for a berth in the state final.

"In previous years when you put that up as a coach, you know it's not really an attainable goal," Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. "The kids believe it. When we beat Del Sol four weeks ago, we started to map it out. We realized we're one of the best teams in the Sunrise Region."

Liberty narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs last year, but made it a mission last winter to improve and play deep into November.

"We've been working together since February," senior lineman Remius Taeao said. "We knew we had a playoff-bound team. We knew we would extend our season a lot longer than last year."

One of the reasons the Patriots' season has been extended is the team's balance.

Unlike most teams, Liberty isn't even close to having either a 1,000-yard rusher or a 1,000-yard passer.

Junior Ty Byrd leads the team in rushing with 733 yards, but seven backs have at least 31 carries. Samuel Tai, one of three quarterbacks, has 575 yards passing. No player has scored more than six touchdowns.

"We try to stress that we really are a team. We're not a bunch of individuals," Muraco said. "A lot of guys get playing time. A lot of guys feel like they're contributing to the team."

And that helps build the team's chemistry and confidence.

We have a lot of confidence, but we're not too confident," Byrd said. "We don't second-guess ourselves. We're sure we can get it done."

The Patriots beat Del Sol 24-21 on Oct. 23. It was the second of five consecutive wins by Liberty, which advanced to the region semifinals by winning at Canyon Springs 16-15 last week.

Liberty also beat Canyon Springs in the regular season.

"Being in a situation where we already beat a team, it gives the kids more confidence," Muraco said.

Del Sol has one of the top running backs in the area in senior Dezerick Reed, who has 263 carries for 1,824 yards and 19 touchdowns. In the previous meeting with Liberty, Reed had nine carries for 106 yards, but 93 came on one run.

Liberty led 14-0 at halftime and never let Del Sol tie the game or take the lead. The Dragons had only 33 offensive plays. Liberty ran 63 plays.

"We have to stop their running attack," Muraco said. "We have to put them in third-and-long situations. We did a great job of that last game. Our defensive front seven is very strong against the run. They like to run, and we like to stop the run.

"Offensively, it's going to come down to just controlling the clock and not turning the ball over."

If that happens, the board with the team goals stays up for another week and goal No. 1 becomes even more attainable.

"All the guys are hyped up," Byrd said. "We're ready to take care of business on Friday."

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.