Liberty outscores Cedar Falls, 49-42, in a game featuring 1,000-plus yards

NORTH LIBERTY — Sutton Koller summed it up in four little words:

“Hell of a game,” he said.

Who could possibly argue?

Iowa City Liberty’s Reece Rettig scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 7-yard run with 20 seconds left, and the Lightning outscored Class 5A seventh-ranked Cedar Falls in an offensive showcase, 49-42, Friday night at Liberty High School.

“We were efficient,” Rettig said. And again, who could argue.

The Lightning (3-1) racked up 568 yards — 296 by land, 272 by air. They churned out 28 first downs and didn’t punt once.

“We didn’t feel like we should,” Rettig said.

Liberty held a seemingly safe 42-28 lead when Koller broke free for a 61-yard touchdown run with 2:52 left, but Cedar Falls (2-2) scored twice in 40 seconds to tie it with 1:41 to go.

Josh Grete caught a 28-yard TD pass from Leyton Wolf, then the Tigers recovered the subsequent onside kick and went back to work.

Wolf’s 2-yard touchdown keeper got the Tigers even, but they left too much time left on the clock and Liberty went 80 yards in eight plays to win it.

The Lightning had four plays of 10-plus yards on the winning drive.

“Our offensive execution was awesome,” Koller said. “(Rettig) can scramble, can throw. He can do everything.”

Liberty is averaging 45.5 points per game.

Rettig completed 23 passes in 28 attempts. Koller rushed for 105 yards, Owen Drapeaux 95, Rettig 78. The Bolts averaged 8.6 yards per play.

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Photos: Cedar Falls at Iowa City Liberty high school football

Cedar Falls averaged 9.0 yards per play (495 yards on 55 plays). Wolf passed for 284 yards; Davarrion Clark ran for 221. The Tigers accumulated 24 first downs, and — like the Bolts — didn’t punt a single time.

The only difference was a Wolf interception (by Logan Laubenthal) in the end zone with Liberty up 27-21 early in the fourth quarter.

Rettig connected with Dallas Miller on a 57-yard TD to make it 35-21 with 7:36 left.

Liberty hosts Cedar Rapids Prairie next week; Cedar Falls is at Linn-Mar.

Iowa City Liberty 49, Cedar Falls 42

At North Liberty

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: CF 24, ICL 28

Rushes-yards: CF 29-211, ICL 38-296

Passing yards: CF 284, ICL 272

Passing: CF 19-26-1, ICL 23-28-0

Total yards: CF 495, ICL 568

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

Punts-average: CF 0-00.0, ICL 0-00.0

Penalties-yards: CF 2-22, ICL 4-40

SCORING SUMMARY

Cedar Falls 0 14 7 21 — 42

Iowa City Liberty 7 6 14 22 — 49

ICL — Owen Drapeaux 4 run (Collin Weis kick)

CF — Trey Reuter 16 pass from Leyton Wolf (Carl Harms kick)

ICL — Landon Bell 5 pass from Reece Rettig (kick blocked)

CF — Davarrion Clark 47 run (Harms kick)

ICL — Drapeaux 2 run (Weis kick)

CF — Ben Backes 20 pass from Wolf (Harms kick)

ICL — Rettig 1 run (Weis kick)

ICL — Dallas Miller 57 pass from Rettig (Rettig run)

CF — Clark 5 run (Harms kick)

ICL — Sutton Koller 61 run (Weis kick)

CF — Josh Grete 28 pass from Wolf (Harms kick)

CF — Wolf 2 run (Harms kick)

ICL — Rettig 7 run (Weis kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Cedar Falls — Davarrion Clark 28-221, Ben Backes 2-5, Will Remmert 1-(minus 2), Leyton Wolf 4-(minus 12), Team 1-(minus 1). Liberty — Sutton Koller 6-105, Owen Drapeaux 19-95, Reece Rettig 10-78, Dallas Miller 3-18.

Passing

Cedar Falls — Wolf 19-26-1-284. Liberty — Rettig 23-28-0-272.

Receiving

Cedar Falls — Trey Reuter 7-118, Carsten Meester 6-72, Backes 3-38, Josh Grete 2-44, Remmert 1-4. Liberty — Collin Decker 10-85, Miller 5-86, Koller 4-42, Landon Bell 2-24, Logan Laubenthal 1-24, Jordan Schroeder 1-11.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com