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*Philly Sports News - PDXBaller - 09-26-2017
Liberty Bell Rings Victory at Home
By Phil E. Chezestake
The Philadelphia Liberty desperately needed their first victory this season after losing a closely contested game to the Baltimore Hawks in week 4 and a tie to the San Jose SaberCats in week 3. With their second home game this season, the Liberty were on a mission to ring the victory bell over the Yellowknife Wraiths. The team was competitive from the start, with both sides of the ball firing on all cylinders. The defense kept the Wraiths from scoring a touchdown in the first quarter and held them to only 6 points in the second. The offense was relentless in their pursuit as well, scoring at least 1 touchdown each quarter. This was the most impressive offensive performance of the season thus far. This game is stark contrast to last week’s game against the Hawks, where the offense ended the game with 245 yards passing and 65 yards rushing. In week 5 against the Wraiths, we saw the Liberty offense on full display with 284 yard passing and 103 total yards rushing. Philadelphia fans all over the country have much to rejoice with this impressive 35-22 victory over the Wraiths.
What Went Well?
There were many positive outcomes in this game and it was very difficult to choose which to highlight, but we’ll hone in on some of the best players in this game.
Clifford Rove was in prime form today after a disappointing performance last week. He threw an impressive 20/30 completion/attempts for a total of 278 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rove did have one interception late in the second quarter, but he didn’t let that phase him as the defense helped clean up the mistake with a sack by A.C. Hackett and a forced fumble recovery by Eli Kamaka. Rove hit all his receivers well this game and moved the chains with a 7/15 3rd down efficiency. This is the type of offensive game that many Liberty fans were hoping to see early on the season. We can expect many more wins if Rove can continue this type of concentrated effort on offense.
Despite not getting any touchdowns, Fox North was the offensive player of the game according to NSFLN statistics. He continues to be the leader among the Liberty wide receivers with 6 receptions, 127 yards total, and an average of 21.2 yards per carry. The season 2 receiver Damien Kroetch was in all the right places this game and he was able make 6 receptions and score 3 touchdowns for the Liberty.
The run game was on full display as well as Omar Wright has found his rhythm with the offense. He carried the ball for a touchdown early in the third quarter and rushed for a total of 79 yards with 3.4 yards on average. Wright didn’t miss a step and never failed in losing any yardage in all of his attempts. The Liberty will need Wright to continue his streak of success given how limited their ground offense is.
The defense has consistently shown that they are one of the best that the NSFC division has to offer. The usual suspects were dominant once again on defense. Luke Washington netted 2 sacks for 11 tackles and Lincoln Jefferson caught an interception in the middle of the third quarter and returned for an 11 yard touchdown. Jefferson ended the game with 5 tackles and 1 pass deflection along with the interception. Rookie Eli Kamaka recovered a fumble late in the second quarter and is fitting in well with at the tackle position in the new defensive scheme.
What Didn’t Go Well?
The offensive line continued to struggle with protecting Rove as they did in week 4. 6 sacks were allowed by the line and they will need to do a better job against teams with better rush defenders. We saw a similar story against the Hawks, where sacks were allowed at opportune moments for Baltimore to score. The offensive line was lucky that the defense were able to recover the ball well to make up for their struggles.
Defensive consistency will be key down the stretch as the Liberty face tougher opponents from both divisions and possibly the playoffs. The endurance appears to be lacking as the defense line has shown that they cannot maintain defensive intensity during the latter parts of the 3rd and 4th quarters. In almost every game this season, not including week 1, the Liberty defense has folded regularly in the later parts of the game. We saw the Hawks were able to come back to win the game in the 4th quarter in week 4. The SaberCats came back to score 11 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game in week 3 and the Outlaws didn’t stop scoring through the 3rd and 4th quarters. In last week’s game, the Wraiths were able to get 14 points in the 4th quarter which would have made a larger impact on the outcome of the game had the Liberty offense not been receiving as well. The defense can’t let off the gas pedal no matter the score and will need to improve their defensive steadiness if Philadelphia hopes to make the playoffs this season.
Liberty Impact Player of the Game This week’s Liberty Impact Player of the Game goes to Damien Kroetch (@Damienj10). This was a hard decision to make given the amount of successes that many players had in this game, but it’s hard to deny the award to a player who scored 3 touchdowns. Kroetch had 91 total receiving yards for an average of 15.2 yards per reception. Rove was able to find Kroetch every time the Liberty were in scoring range and he was there to catch it successfully for most passes. The speed receiver didn’t stop scoring throughout the game with the first touchdown coming around the 11 minute mark of the first quarter. He had an impressive 25 yard completion in the third quarter that led to a scoring drive and even caught a 6 yard pass early on in the 4th quarter from the former starting quarterback, Jameis Christ.
Next Game
On the Road against the Arizona Outlaws in The Bandit Pit
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