Carlisle ends Iowa City Liberty’s winningest football season in state quarterfinals

NORTH LIBERTY — It wasn’t the ending Iowa City Liberty hoped for.

Nevertheless, setting a school record for wins in a single season, winning a district title and advancing to the state quarterfinals for the first time in school history are feats the 2022 Lightning football team are proud of.

“I’m very happy with the success we had,” Liberty Coach James Harris said. “We have awesome kids who bought into training really hard.

“We were 3-6 last year. No one would’ve guessed we were going to be district champs this year. No one would’ve guessed we would’ve been 9-2 with an opportunity to go to the UNI-Dome.”

Fourth-ranked Carlisle (10-1) ended No. 5 Liberty’s season Friday night, defeating the Lightning 56-28 in a Class 4A state quarterfinal game at Liberty High School.

The weather was sloppy and so was Liberty’s first-half offense.

The Lightning turned the ball over three times in the first two quarters (two fumbles and an interception).

“I think the elements were a part of the deal,” Harris said. “I think it impacted some of the stuff. But you have to come out and play in whatever it is.”

The defense also couldn’t down Carlisle’s potent run game.

Carlisle entered Friday’s contest leading Class 4A in rushing TDs with 48 and ranked third in rushing yards with 2,939.

Jes Krcil got the scoring started, punching it in from 11 yards out on the Wildcats’ opening drive.

Carlisle’s defense then forced and recovered a fumble at Liberty’s 14. Jake Laughlin ran it in on the next play.

Krcil added another score just before the end of the first.

On the first play of the second quarter, Carlisle’s defense forced and recovered another fumble at its 46. Eleven plays later, Laughlin punched it in from 10 yards out.

Just like that, the Wildcats were up 28-0.

“You stack turnovers like that real quick, it was hard,” Harris said. “The momentum got away from us.”

Dantrell Skinner put the Lightning on the board in the first half with a 4-yard TD run. Krcil responded by adding his third TD of the first half to put Carlisle up 35-7 at intermission.

Liberty kept fighting.

Graham Beckman had an impressive opening second-half drive, completing 5 of 8 pass attempts for 82 yards, the final throw an 8-yard TD to Garret Gregoire.

Carlisle countered with a 5-yard touchdown run by Laughlin.

Trailing 42-14, the Lightning struck twice, quickly, as Skinner scored again.

Following a recovered onside kick, Beckman led the offense down the field and capped a 46-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Trey Gregoire to get Liberty within 14.

“We fell short, but we played our hearts out in the second half,” Beckman said. “Hopefully everyone can leave this field knowing that they put in the work this summer and a 9-2 record after being 3-6 is a big thing.”

Beckman completed 19 of 34 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns. Garret Gregoire lead Liberty’s receivers, hauling in seven receptions for 132 yards and a TD.

The Liberty defense simply had no answer for Carlisle’s ground attack.

Laughlin closed out the game with two touchdowns, one from 6 yards out and the other from 7, to thwart the Liberty run.

Carlisle rushed for 530 yards and eight touchdowns. Krcil carried it 34 times for 265 yards and three scores, while Laughlin ran it 35 times for 264 yards and five TDs.

The Wildcats threw just three times in the game, completing just one pass for 6 yards.

“I’m obviously in the state where I would’ve like to have seen us play a lot better,” Harris said. “Defensively I would’ve like to see us play a lot better. I take a lot of pride in what we do defensively, so I take a big lump on my shoulders.”

On the bright side for Liberty, Beckman and several key playmakers will return next season and look to build on this year’s success.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys coming back,” Harris said. “We have an all-state quarterback coming back. An all-state defensive lineman back. We’ve got some guys coming back.”

“I think it’s just a great start, but we’re not done,” Beckman said. “We just have to keep moving forward. This is just one step toward that state championship.”

“If we do what we can do, we can be special.”