A season ago, Liberty went into its Week 8 de facto region championship game with Pendleton in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history. <\/p>\n
Things are a bit different for both teams this year as they prepare for their showdown at Cunningham Stadium on Friday. <\/p>\n
Sitting on the playoff bubble in Region 1-AA, Liberty (4-4, 2-3) has adopted a win-or-go-home mentality the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Pendleton (5-3, 2-2), a preseason region favorite riddled with injuries, is already out of the mix for the region championship and is looking to stay under the radar as the postseason approaches. <\/p>\n
Liberty coach Kyle Stewart can understand some fans' disappointment as the Red Devils were coming off a 9-3 season that included a playoff victory. Yet, while his team hasn't quite taken the next step in the rebuilding process, Liberty is a far cry from the 4-46 record it carried from 2007 to 2010. <\/p>\n
\"It's easy to look at past results and say it'll be duplicated,\" Stewart said. \"But this is a different team.\" <\/p>\n
And it's a lot harder to sneak up on teams after last season. <\/p>\n
After suffering significant losses to graduation last year, Liberty dropped three league games in a row to Landrum, Blacksburg and Chesnee, the latter two of which will be playing for the region crown Friday. <\/p>\n
But something changed last week against Crescent, this year's surprise team in the region. Up 14-7 at halftime, Stewart and his staff reminded their team that its season was on the line. <\/p>\n
\"A lot of what we do is mental,\" Stewart said. \"At halftime we had a little spark of emotion and got what we needed.\" <\/p>\n
Liberty forced five turnovers Colby Gibson and Payton Dameron returned interceptions for touchdowns and scored 27 unanswered points in the second half of the 41-7 rout. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Liberty, Pendleton haven't met expectations this season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A season ago, Liberty went into its Week 8 de facto region championship game with Pendleton in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history. Things are a bit different for both teams this year as they prepare for their showdown at Cunningham Stadium on Friday. Continue reading