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Iowa City Liberty tops Iowa City West as rivals pile up points in season opener
Lightning beat Trojans for the 1st time in Scott Chandler’s debut as head coach
NORTH LIBERTY — What a way to begin a new era.
Iowa City Liberty kicked off the 2024 prep football season under the direction of first-year head coach Scott Chandler, a former University of Iowa and nine-year NFL tight end.
It would be difficult to imagine a better introductory notch on the victory belt than a program-first win against a rival in Iowa City West.
“I think it's always big to win rivalry games,” Chandler said after Liberty outlasted West, 56-45, Friday night at Liberty High School. "The season opener is also big, too. You feel like you get off to a good start and all the work you put in kind of justifies itself.
“But this game is about players. As much as we want to say coaches do stuff, players play. Our players came to play tonight and they finished the game."
Liberty (1-0) displayed a punishing run game that piled up a whopping 354 yards on 55 attempts. Senior tailback Owen Drapeaux led the charge with a game-high 168 yards via 23 carries and three touchdowns, while fellow senior Sutton Koller added 80 yards and two scores.
“If we can run the ball like that, then we can pass the ball when they are not expecting it,” Drapeaux said. “We run, run, run and then throw it over the top to Dallas (Miller) or Sutton or any of our receivers that can catch and run, then we are going to put the ball in the end zone.”
Liberty did just that when it appeared to be content to run out the clock. With 1:35 left in the game and the Lightning up, 49-38, junior quarterback Reese Rettig fired downfield to Miller — against the unsuspecting West defense — for a 46-yard score that left no doubt in the outcome.
Rettig — who took over the starting quarterback job at Liberty following the graduation of 5,000-plus yard passer Graham Beckman — played error-free ball by throwing for 150 yards and two scores, plus the added element of 64 rushing yards.
“We just trusted in our O-line,” Rettig said. “We have been working on it all summer. Just pound the rock, move the rock. That is all we did.”
Miller also threw a 50-yard touchdown pass and collected an interception on defense, while junior Landon Bell was the recipient of one of Rettig's scoring tosses.
Quarterback Jack Wallace threw for 249 yards, two touchdowns and also ran for a pair of scores for West (0-1).
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