Liberty Christian rolls past Odessa-Harrington
Liberty Christian opened the Class 1B state playoffs Friday night at Edgar Brown Stadium with one thing in mind.
“The seniors don’t want to play their last game until we get to the (Tacoma) Dome,” senior quarterback John Lesser said. “We want to get back to the dome and finish what we didn’t last year.”
Liberty Christian rolled to a 60-30 victory over Odessa-Harrington in a first-round game.
“We came out preaching to do your job,” Lesser said. “And we did that really well.”
Lesser threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more — one being a 95-yard scamper down the right side — in leading the Patriots to a 40-0 halftime lead, and the outcome was never in doubt after that.
“We wanted to emphasize a fast start,” Liberty Christian coach Craig Lukins said. “The past couple of games we’ve gotten off to a slow start. Our message was to put the pedal to the metal and take it to them.“
Message received.
After recovering a fumble on Odessa-Harrington’s first possession, Lesser hit Mitch Godwin for a 37-yard gain, and Lesser finished it off with a 8-yard scamper to give the Patriots an early 8-0 lead.
On Liberty Christian’s second drive, Lesser hit Jordan Godwin over the middle, and the speedster took it 24 yards for the touchdown.
The Titans threatened, getting inside the Patriots 10-yard line on their next possession, but were stopped on downs at the 5. Lesser took the next offensive snap 95 yards, outrunning all the Odessa-Harrington defenders for the touchdown and a 24-0 lead.
Lesser had touchdown passes to Rory Utley and Mitch Godwin, an 85-yard catch and run, to close out the first half.
“John has been coming around late in the year,” Lukins said about the passing game. “When they press (Mitch) Godwin, we’ll take what they give us. He’s one of the fastest kids in the state at this level.”
Lesser finished with 141 yards rushing on just eight carries, but he was also 5-for-5 through the air for another 185 yards.
“We want to get the (pass) to the game plan,” Lesser said. “We’re going to take what they give and Mitch is so fast out there, just have to throw it to him.”
Godwin had three catches for 152 yards. Backup quarterback Konnor DenHoed also had over 100 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 47 and 55 late in the game.
Odessa Harrington’s Sage Elder had over 200 yards on the ground and scored three touchdowns for the Titans.
Liberty Christian will play either Garfield-Palouse or Republic in the state 1B quarterfinals next week.
Odessa-Harrington | 0 | 0 | 8 | 22 | — | 30 |
Liberty Christian | 16 | 24 | 8 | 12 | — | 60 |
SCORING PLAYS
LC — John Lesser 8 run (Lesser run)
LC — Jordan Godwin 24 pass from Lesser (Lesser run)
LC — Lesser 95 run (Nico Shupe run)
LC — Rory Utley 9 pass from Lesser (Cameron Godwin pass from Lesser)
LC — Mitch Godwin 85 pass from Lesser (Lesser run)
LC — Shupe 20 run (M.Godwin pass from Lesser)
OH — Colton Hunt 28 run (Sage Elder run)
OH — Elder 14 run (pass failed)
LC — Konnor DenHoed 47 run (run failed)
OH — Elder 33 run (Elder run)
LC — DenHoed 55 run (run failed)
OH — Elder 1 run (Elder run)
STATISTICS
RUSHING — OH, Elder 28-217, Hunt 13-78, Caleb Behrens 10-17, Dylan Shockley 3-12, John DeWulf 1-2, Lane Lobe 1-1. LC, Lesser 8-141, DenHoed 3-105, Shupe 9-30, Drew Barber 1-1.
PASSING — OH, Hunt 6-10-0-50, Elder 0-1-0-0. LC, Lesser 5-5-0-185, DenHoed 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING — OH, Behrens 3-34, Chance Messer 2-13. LC, M.Godwin 3-152, J.Godwin 1-24, Utley 1-9.
ROYAL 69, CHARLES WRIGHT 0: Royal jumped out to a 34-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back in a 1A playoff victory.
Joe Lang ran for three TDs in the quarter, while quarterback Kaden Jenks connected with Sam Christensen twice on scoring plays.
No other details were available at press time.
The Knights will have to travel next weekend in the state quarterfinals, playing the winner of today’s Eatonville-Colville game.
This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Liberty Christian rolls past Odessa-Harrington."