Gregoire twins ignite Liberty in a 55-7 rout of Clear Creek Amana

TIFFIN — That’s Trey Gregoire by land, Garrett Gregoire by air.

And Iowa City Liberty in a rout.

The Gregoire twins scored two touchdowns apiece, and Class 4A 10th-ranked Liberty piled up 503 yards of total offense and blistered Clear Creek Amana, 55-7, in a non-district football game Friday night at Clear Creek Amana High School.

“It’s one of our biggest rivals, probably just as big as (Iowa) City High,” Garrett Gregoire said. “There’s a lot of online beefing; we go back and forth.

“We had to show them who’s boss.”

Liberty (3-1) bounced back from an upset loss last week at Western Dubuque in a major way, scoring the game’s final 49 points. The Lightning racked up 26 first downs and averaged 8.1 yards per play.

They were methodical at times, explosive at others.

“We were all pretty frustrated last week,” Liberty Coach James Harris said. “By Wednesday, we were pretty locked in.”

Hard to imagine afterward, but this was an extremely competitive game for 20 minutes. It swung irreversibly Liberty’s way midway through the second quarter.

With the Lightning in front 13-7, they sniffed out a fake punt by Reece Hoffman, a yard short, at the Liberty 47, then drove 53 yards in eight plays.

On second-and-10 at the CCA 26, Beckman connected with Garrett Gregoire on a tunnel screen. Gregoire broke a couple of tackles and took it the distance. The PAT put the Lightning in front, 20-7, and that’s how it stood at halftime.

“Reflecting on last year (a 31-30 CCA win), our special teams came up short that night,” Harris said. “Tonight, we were ready for the shift, the rugby stuff.”

Trey Gregoire capped a pair of Liberty first-half drives with short touchdown runs, then Garrett Gregoire caught two passes, both for long touchdowns.

“Trey and I, we compete against each other. We try to outperform each other,” Garrett said. “(Trey) got those first two touchdowns, and I couldn’t let him outperform me.

“The first (TD pass) was a little screen pass. I got some great blocking and made a man miss. The second one, it was a better throw than catch.”

Beckman was steady all night, completing 20 of 26 passes — to seven different receivers — for 254 yards and three TDs.

“We wanted to come up big tonight,” Beckman said. “We scored right before halftime, then again right after halftime, and that was a big momentum shift.”

Liberty scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, two in the fourth.

Trey Gregoire led the ground attack with 91 yards on 17 carries.

CCA (2-2) took a brief 7-6 lead late in the first quarter on Jackson Schmidt’s 16-yard TD pass to Hoffman. Schmidt set up the score with a 57-yard scramble, on third-and-8, to the Liberty 20.

Schmidt finished with 106 rushing yards for the Clippers.

Both teams begin 4A district action next Friday: Liberty hosts North Scott; CCA is at Oskaloosa.

Iowa City Liberty 55, Clear Creek Amana 7

AT TIFFIN

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: ICL 26, CCA 8

Rushes-yards: ICL 25-230, CCA 35-195

Passing yards: ICL 273, CCA 23

Passing: ICL 21-27-0, CCA 2-7-0

Total yards: ICL 503, CCA 218

Fumbles-lost: ICL 1-0, CCA 0-0

Punts-average: ICL 1-34.0, CCA 5-31.6

Penalties-yards: ICL 4-32, CCA 4-41

SCORING SUMMARY

Iowa City Liberty 6 14 21 14 — 55

Clear Creek Amana 7 0 0 0 — 7

ICL — Trey Gregoire 1 run (pass failed)

CCA — Reece Hoffman 16 pass from Jackson Schmidt (Max Carlson kick)

ICL — Gregoire 2 run (Haydel Saul kick)

ICL — Garrett Gregoire 26 pass from Graham Beckman (Saul kick)

ICL — G. Gregoire 39 pass from Beckman (Saul kick)

ICL — Lucas Meyer 48 pass from Beckman (Saul kick)

ICL — Owen Drapeaux 49 run (Saul kick)

ICL — Anhlyan Peoples 1 run (Saul kick)

ICL — Ian Covarrubias 19 pass from Reece Rettig (Saul kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Liberty: Trey Gregoire 17-91, Owen Drapeaux 4-58, Anhlyan Peoples 8-56, Graham Beckman 6-25. CCA: Jackson Schmidt 14-106, Eli Mallicoat 5-45, Sam Pettinger 9-32, Reece Hoffman 2-2, Cale Berry 4-0, Ethan Vice 1-0.

Passing

Liberty: Beckman 20-26-0-254, Reece Rettig 1-1-0-19. CCA: Schmidt 1-6-0-16, Berry 1-1-0-7.

Receiving

Liberty: Wyatt Williams 7-61, Christian Barney 4-22, Lucas Meyer 3-63, Garrett Gregoire 2-65, Gabe Clark 2-20, Ian Covarrubias 1-19, T. Gregoire 1-12, Drapeaux 1-11. CCA: Hoffman 1-16, Owen Rosenberg 1-7.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com