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Osbourn QB dissects LHS defense; Eagles stunned, 27-14
The last few years when Liberty lost it’s both a catastrophe and a surprise.
Saturday evening, the Eagles revisited those emotions, as Osbourn quarterback Thomas Keith and running back Jerrell McFadden ran freely most of the night in a stunning 27-14 victory in Manassas.
Using his extreme nimbleness and speed, Keith picked his way through often small holes in the line, and turned them into big gains. The 6-foot, 156-pound junior finished with 183 yards on 30 carries, while McFAdden gained 42 yards on nine carries before leaving the game in the first half due to shortness of breath.
Furthermore, Osbourn harassed Liberty’s prolific running game with superb line play, thwarting the Eagles’ chances of making this a shootout. Liberty was held to one first down in the first half, and trailed 13-0 at intermission.
Although Liberty scored 14 points in the second half, it never mounted a serious comeback, and were left devastated at the both the loss, and the uphill fight that remains to win the Cedar Run District and make their first playoff appearance since 2004.
“The buck stops with me. I felt we had a good gameplan in place. I’ll look at it a hundred ways and figure out what I did wrong,” said Liberty coach Tommy Buzzo.
“Any way you want to look at it, Osbourn played an excellent game. They stopped us, and their offense had their way with our defense,” said Buzzo, who watched with horror as Osbourn amassed 299 rushing yards on a whopping 52 carries.
The tone was set in the opening seconds when two LHS players botched Osbourn's short pooch kickoff, causing a fumble that OHS recovered. That drive led to a missed 39-yard field goal, but Osbourn made it 7-0 on its second possession. McFadden's four-yard touchdown run on fourth down completed an 11-play, 52-yard drive.
Osbourn made it 13-0 early in the second quarter on Keith’s 12-yard TD run.
Given the failure of the LHS offense to run or pass, the deficit looked formidable.
Liberty almost got back in the game on a huge OHS turnover. Late in the second quarter, Keith broke into the open field, but fumbled on his own 36-yard-line. Safety Derrick Lee scooped the ball up in stride and broke towards the OHS goal line, looking for six points.
Lee made it to the 9 before being tripped up. After getting to the 5, the Eagles were penalized to the 20, and did not score.
Osbourn increased its lead to 20-0 in the third quarter on Casey Lucas’s one-yard run.
Liberty made it 20-6 on Damien Dodson’s 2-yard TD run late in the third quarter.
Any hope of a comeback was squelched when Keith led a 69-yard drive that put the game out of reach at 27-6. Keith had runs of 14, 28, 11 and scored on a 7-yard waltz up the middle.
Unquestionably the player of the game, the lean junior is in his first year as the varsity QB, and getting better all the time, Osbourn coach Steve Schultze said. “He’s great in space, he’s got great vision. Both he and Jerell have a special capability to make you miss,” said Schultze.
Liberty’s loss in its Cedar Run opener after a sterling 3-0 mark in non-district play brought have memories of last year, when the Eagles fell to North Stafford and Fauquier early on. Those slip-ups ultimately kept the Eagles out of the layoffs, even though they won seven of their final eight.
The good news is that should Liberty win their remaining district games , they should still qualify for the Group AAA Division 5 playoffs. LHS hosts Stonewall Jackson Friday, and meets district favorite and defending champion Battlefield Oct. 10 in Haymarket.
For now, however, the Osbourn loss remains way too fresh...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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