Iowa City Liberty leans on defense this week to beat Cedar Rapids Prairie

NORTH LIBERTY – The Iowa City Liberty offense has garnered a lot of attention by piling up yards and scoring loads of points.

Suddenly, Liberty’s defense has a game with which to hang its hat.

“We talked all week about those guys flipping the script, changing the narrative,” first-year Liberty Coach Scott Chandler said after the Class 5A eighth-ranked Lightning overwhelmed Cedar Rapids Prairie, 26-21, in a prep football game Friday night at Liberty High School. “They really came out and showed that tonight.”

Through the first four games of the season, the Lightning had allowed more than 37 points per game. Thanks to an offensive attack that had scored at least 49 points in three contests, the defensive struggles were not showing up much in the win-loss column.

On this night, it was the Liberty defense that picked up the offense. The Lightning defenders recovered two fumbles, intercepted a pass and registered a couple of crucial stops on fourth down.

“Very satisfying,” Liberty senior Sutton Koller said. “We have been stressing after each week, our defense has just got to keep getting better. And it feels like that actually paid off tonight. It feels remarkable.”

Liberty (4-1) made some defensive tweaks during practice this week. Senior tailback/linebacker Owen Drapeaux played a higher number of defensive snaps than usual, while Koller played closer to the line of scrimmage. The result? Koller collected an interception, while Drapeaux recovered a fumble and registered a sack.

“It was great, it was amazing,” Drapeaux said. “I was really proud of our defense. … Going into Ankeny (next week), it is great confidence going into that.”

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Prairie at Iowa City Liberty high school football

On offense, Drapeaux ran for a pair of first-quarter touchdowns to stake Liberty to an early 14-0 lead that took some pressure off the defense. Liberty junior quarterback Reese Rettig threw for 155 yards and touchdowns of 30 and 39 yards to Koller, the second of which put the game out of reach at 26-7 with 6:15 to go.

“The quarterback kind of fumbled the ball, the snap was a little off,” said Koller, who finished with four receptions for 99 yards. “Pitched it a little late. It was a really wide pitch. It was the widest pitch I have ever received. So I am kind of like, ‘Well, hopefully I don’t get killed here.’ I look up and there is a lot of room. I see a little crease on the outside. … I took it and I ran.”

Prairie (2-3) scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes to provide the close outcome.

Iowa City Liberty 26, Cedar Rapids Prairie 21

AT IOWA CITY LIBERTY

CRP ICL

First Downs 18 7

Rushes-yards 35-109 25-73

Comp-Att-Int 20-31-1 14-21-0

Passing yards 180 155

Total yards 289 228

Punts-avg. 3-29.3 5-43.6

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 3-19 9-65

Cedar Rapids Prairie 0 7 0 14—21

Iowa City Liberty 14 6 0 6—26

ICL – Owen Drapeaux 2 run (Collin Weis kick)

ICL – Owen Drapeaux 25 run (Collin Weis kick)

CRP – Denzil Green 28 pass from Wyatt Eash (Junior Boxa kick)

ICL – Sutton Koller 30 pass from Reece Rettig (kick failed)

ICL – Sutton Koller 39 pass from Reece Rettig (kick failed)

CRP – Quinton Alexander 5 run (Junior Boxa kick)

CRP – Drew Bennis 28 pass from Wyatt Eash (Junior Boxa kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Cedar Rapids Prairie: BJay Bush Jr. 17-82, Wyatt Eash 9-(-15), Quinton Alexander 6-31, Talan Jackson 3-11; Iowa City Liberty: Sutton Koller 3-16, Owen Drapeaux 12-59, Reece Rettig 8-9, Dallas Miller 1-(-10), Charles Roberts 1-(-1).

PASSING – Cedar Rapids Prairie: Wyatt Eash 20-31-1-180; Iowa City Liberty: Reece Rettig 14-21-0-155.

RECEIVING – Cedar Rapids Prairie: Talan Jackson 1-6, Quinton Alexander 1-4, Denzil Green 8-78, Drew Bennis 7-70, Max Schwieger 3-22; Iowa City Liberty: Dallas Miller 8-50, Sutton Koller 4-99, Evan Colsch 1-2, Jordan Schroeder 1-4.