Iowa City Liberty jumps on Linn-Mar early, coasts to 25-14 victory

NORTH LIBERTY — Student Body Calisthenics.

That’s how the Iowa City Liberty kids celebrated this one.

After the Class 4A eighth-ranked Lightning put the finishing touches on a 25-14 victory over 5A No. 9 Linn-Mar Friday night at Liberty High School, the Bolts gathered at midfield.

Their peers lined the sidelines and the end zones. Jumping jacks ensued. One for each letter.

L! I! B! ... You know the rest.

Also know this: Liberty is legit. That opening-week Kinnick triumph over Iowa City High? Not a fluke.

Junior quarterback Graham Beckman passed for 329 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown on a post-pattern bomb to Lucas Meyer on the third play of the game.

“I thought I overthrew him,” Beckman said. “But he’s a tall target, he can run and he got to the end zone.”

Liberty rocketed to a 25-0 halftime lead and coasted to its second 2-0 start in the program’s brief history.

Coach James Harris wasn’t pleased about the coasting part of it.

“I’m super happy to beat a high-quality opponent,” Harris said. “But we showed some immaturity. That’s on me as a coach.

“After (going 3-6) last year, I don’t think we have any right for entitlement. We have to earn everything we get.”

The Bolts earned everything in the first half. Beckman passed for 251 yards before intermission, and the Lightning outgained Linn-Mar (1-1) by a 304-74 margin in the first half and took a 25-0 lead to the locker room.

If you want to go with the “Lightning struck ... ” theme, well, it happened a minute into the game.

With Liberty facing third-and-10 from its 17, Beckman wound up and flung a strike to Meyer, who got behind the last line of Linn-Mar’s defense and outsprinted everyone to the end zone.

Cody Nichols added the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 advantage.

After a Linn-Mar three-and-out, the Bolts drove to the 13-yard line before Hayden Saul converted a 30-yard field goal and an 11-0 margin.

Then came the Bolts’ long, sustained drive. They converted third-and-7, third-and-10 (twice), fourth-and-1 and third-and-goal from the 9. Beckman’s 9-yard scoring pass to Christian Barney capped an 18-play, 86-yard masterpiece that made it 18-0.

The Bolts made it four straight scoring drives midway through the second quarter. On fourth-and-a-foot from the Linn-Mar 28, Beckman crashed into the line on a quarterback sneak, then emerged from the pile and ran for the touchdown.

Beckman completed 15 of 25 passes before intermission, hitting five different receivers.

“That big post to Lucas, that really propelled us,” Beckman said. “I think I’ve shown (the first two weeks) that I can compete. I know the guys can catch it and make me look good.”

Credit Linn-Mar for competing in the second half. The Lions scored twice within less than a minute late in the third quarter to make it interesting.

Austin Waller’s 1-yard run capped a 12-play, 77-yard drive. Then, after a short kickoff bounced around and was retrieved by the Lions, Jackson Severson tallied on a 7-yard run to cut the deficit to 25-14.

“As proud was I was of our special teams last week, I’m just as frustrated that we didn’t cover that kick,” Harris said.

Linn-Mar drove to the Liberty 30 with about three minutes left in the game before an interception by Carter Meyers sealed it.

Liberty is at Western Dubuque next week. Linn-Mar will face Pleasant Valley at Cedar Rapids Prairie’s John Wall Field.

Iowa City Liberty 25, Linn-Mar 14

AT NORTH LIBERTY

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: LM 12, ICL 17

Rushes-yards: LM 25-113, ICL 30-74

Passing yards: LM 171, ICL 329

Passing: LM 10-25-1, ICL 23-39-1

Total yards: LM 284, ICL 403

Fumbles-lost: LM 0-0, ICL 2-1

Punts-average: LM 5-33.0, ICL 2-41.5

Penalties-yards: LM 4-30, ICL 4-40

SCORING SUMMARY

Linn-Mar 0 0 14 0 — 14

Iowa City Liberty 11 14 0 0 — 25

ICL — Lucas Meyer 83 pass from Graham Beckman (Cody Nichols run)

ICL — FG Hayden Saul 30

ICL — Christian Barney 9 pass from Beckman (Saul kick)

ICL — Beckman 28 run (Saul kick)

LM — Austin Waller 1 run (Mitchell Frahm kick)

LM — Jackson Severson 7 run (Frahm kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Linn-Mar: Jackson Severson 9-49, Hayden Thoms 3-34, Austin Waller 7-17, Ben Blackford 1-9, T.J. Jackson 3-6, Colton Waller 1-2, Sam Watts 1-(minus 4). Liberty: Graham Beckman 11-38, Trey Gergoire 10-24, Lucas Meyer 1-8, Owen Drapeaux 5-7, Team 3-(minus 3).

Passing

Linn-Mar: A. Waller 8-23-1-167, Abe Behning 2-2-0-4. Liberty: Beckman 23-39-1-329.

Receiving

Linn-Mar: Dylan Muszynski 3-43, Jackson 2-45, Tayden Ferguson 2-32, Severson 1-21, Will Murrin 1-15, Keaton Roskop 1-14. Liberty: Christian Barney 7-86, Garrett Gregoire 5-65, T. Gregoire 4-45, Meyer 3-99, Dallas Miller 1-9, Gabe Clark 1-8, Ethan Neels 1-6.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com