Football Wins on Senior Night, 31-2
02:34 AM CDT on Saturday, November 5, 2011
ARGYLE — Daniel Loch produced on both sides of the ball, and the Liberty Christian Warriors tuned up for next week’s playoff opener with a 31-2 nondistrict victory Friday night over the El Paso Cathedral Irish at Bowles Stadium.
Loch caught a touchdown pass and intercepted two passes, returning one 83 yards for a touchdown with six seconds left in the first half. The return broke open a tight game as the Warriors (6-4) took a 17-0 halftime lead.
Both of Loch’s interceptions stopped Irish drives in Liberty Christian territory. His first pick stopped Cathedral, which had driven to the Warriors’ 32.
Liberty Christian’s defense played tough and came up with the stops when needed. Besides Loch’s interceptions, the Warriors forced the Irish to turn the ball over on downs on Cathedral’s first possession of the second half, 11 yards from the end zone. It turned out to be big as the Irish had a chance to get back in the game.
However, on the next play, quarterback Foster Ford was sacked in the end zone to give Cathedral a little hope, down 17-2.
But after the Warriors’ defense forced a three-and-out, Ford directed a 53-yard, nine-play drive that ended with Ford hitting Adam Hawkins on a quick slant for a 5-yard touchdown and a 24-2 lead with 8 minutes, 6 seconds left in the game.
Moments later, Kole Kellner intercepted a Cathedral pass, setting up the Warriors on the Irish 42.
On the next play, Ford ran the option to the right, kept the ball and raced untouched for the touchdown with 6:23 left.
Ford took over for starter Josh Cousins in the second half and finished with 38 yards rushing, while going 6-for-8 passing for 49 yards.
Liberty Christian scored on its first possession, going 53 yards in six plays as Cousins hit Loch in the back of the end zone from 14 yards out. Mikael Sroka’s extra point made it 7-0 with 9:23 left in the first quarter.
Cousins was 9-of-14 passing for 90 yards, while teammate Miles Smith led all rushers with 74 yards on 12 carries.
The Warriors almost scored again, but a fumble ended a second-quarter drive at the Cathedral 12.
Special teams got in the act for Liberty Christian after the fumble as Mitchell Rowsell took the reverse on a punt and raced down the sidelines to the Irish 18.
Cathedral (4-6) stopped the Warriors, but Sroka nailed a 33-yard field goal with 5:13 left before halftime for a 10-0 lead.
Liberty Christian 31, El Paso Cathedral 2
Cathedral 0 0 2 0 — 2
Liberty 7 10 0 14 — 31
Scoring summary
First quarter
LC — Daniel Loch 14 pass from Josh Cousins (Mikael Sroka kick), 9:23
Second quarter
LC — Sroka 33 field goal, 5:13
LC — Loch 83 interception return (Sroka kick), :06
Third quarter
EPC — Safety, :53
Fourth quarter
LC — Adam Hawkins 5 pass from Foster Ford (Sroka kick), 8:06
LC — Foster Ford 42 run (Sroka kick), 6:23
Team Statistics
EPC LC
First downs 14 14
Rushing yards 44-170 23-131
Passing yards 81 139
Total yards 251 270
Passing 5-20-3 15-22-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Punts-avg 5-32.0 3-32.0
Penalties-yds 5-25 6-45
Individual statistics
Rushing: EPC — Michael Sauter 13-55, Joshua Arellano11-54, Chris Arellano 10-31, Marco Zamora 4-20, Diego Bermudez 5-8, Steven Salazar 1-2. LC — Miles Smith12-74, Foster Ford 3-38, Dylan Sprock 1-10, Josh Cousins 1-7, Jensen Nash 1-2, Jett Milner 3-1, JonAaron Howell 1-0, Camron Cornett 1-(-1).
Passing: EPC — Bermudez 4-11-2 62, J. Arellano 1-9-1 19. LC — Cousins 9-14-0 90, Ford 6-8-0 49.
Receiving: EPC — Joshua Tovar 4-47, Taylor Pittard 1-34. LC — Kyle Metzger 4-37, Daniel Loch 3-33, Sprock 2-25, Ford 1-13, Mitchell Rowsell 2-11, Braxton Nuese 1-10, Adam Hawkins 1-5, Smith 1-5.
Thank you to the Denton Record Chronicle for this story.