‘We can do anything we put our mind to.’ Liberty explodes in 2nd half, rallies past Glencoe in thrilling conference opener

“We have some great athletes on our offense, a lot of weapons.”

By Dan Brood | Photos by Leon Neuschwander

The Liberty football team seemed to have many motivating factors entering its game with Glencoe. 

After all, it was the Falcons’ Pacific Conference opener, they were playing a school-district rival and they were playing in front of their home crowd — a large, loud Homecoming crowd, to be exact.

Despite all of that inspiration, Liberty found itself trailing by 13 points more than midway through the second quarter. Even after getting a touchdown late in the period, the Falcons found themselves facing a six-point halftime deficit against the fired-up Glencoe squad. 

But things changed after halftime — in a big, big way. 

The Falcons roared past the Crimson Tide with a 41-point second-half outburst Friday on their way to a 55-39 victory in an action-packed Pacific Conference game played in front of a raucous Homecoming crowd at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.

“Oh, this is awesome,” said Liberty junior quarterback Tytan Rekow, who had two touchdown runs and a touchdown pass. “I mean, league opener, Homecoming, it’s just an awesome feeling.”

“We won our Homecoming game, our first league game, so we’re feeling great,” Liberty senior lineman Ryan Berger said. “We had a rough first half, but, hey, we pulled it out in the second.”

“This was really fun,” said Liberty senior running back Vincent Cabezudo, who scored two touchdowns. “It’s our Homecoming game, and it was great to come out with a win.”

Liberty improved to 3-2, but more important to the Falcons was getting off to a 1-0 start to conference play.

“It was really important,” Cabezudo said. “The first league game sets the tone for the rest of the season.”

“You really couldn’t start off league any better,” Rekow said.

Glencoe moved to 0-1 in Pacific Conference games and to 1-4 overall. 

“It was pretty good in the beginning,” said Glencoe sophomore running back Maliq Smith, who ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns. “But we came out of halftime and we just weren’t doing our thing.”

“We were moving, for sure, I could feel a shift,” said Glencoe junior quarterback Trevor O’Leary, who had a hand in three touchdowns. “But I don’t know what happened in the second half.”

Liberty got off to a strong start. The first time they had the ball, the Falcons moved 48 yards in seven plays, capping the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run by junior Tanner Steinbach, giving the home team a 7-0 lead with 7 minutes and 17 seconds left in the first quarter.

Glencoe took over from there. With a 31-yard run, O’Leary set up his scoring play, a 19-yard run coming on fourth-and-5, tying the score at 7-7 with 3:17 remaining in the opening period.

The Crimson Tide didn’t let up from there. Smith scored on a 1-yard burst and Glencoe senior Lucas Anthony added a 6-yard touchdown run, giving the Crimson Tide a 20-7 advantage with 4:24 left in the second quarter.

“We were 100 percent ready at the start, but we just couldn’t finish at the end,” Smith said.

Liberty got closer before the intermission as Cabezudo scored on a 30-yard run, sneaking in the front left corner of the end zone with 2:55 left in the period, but the Falcons still found themselves trailing 20-14 at halftime.

And they weren’t very happy about it.

But they turned that displeasure into a newfound motivation. 

“At halftime, we had a lot of emotions going on,” Cabezudo said. “We just decided to turn up, do our best, play hard and finish the game.”

“After that first half, we knew in the locker room that we had to step up, and we did,” Rekow said. “I think it was the speech that (Liberty coach Eric) Mahlum gave us. He’s a great coach, great motivator, and I think it really kicked in that we needed to start the fire and turn on the engine.”

As the second half began, that engine definitely seemed to be turned on — and it didn’t take long to get roaring in high gear.

In the opening series of the second half, fired-up Liberty put together a quick, five-play scoring drive, which ended with Steinbach scoring on a 5-yard run through a huge hole opened on the left side of the line by Berger from his left guard spot. Senior Zain Kiser added the extra-point kick, giving the Falcons a 21-20 lead with 10:30 remaining in the third quarter.

It didn’t take Liberty long to add to its lead. On the ensuing kickoff, the Falcons recovered a loose ball on Kiser’s short kick, with Liberty senior Cristian Vidalez among the Falcons grabbing for the ball, at the Glencoe 31-yard line.

Three plays later, Rekow scored on a 13-yard run, giving Liberty a 28-20 lead with 9:42 left in the third quarter. 

Glencoe battled right back, again showing an ability for coming through in the clutch. Again facing a fourth-down situation — this time, a fourth-and-goal play from the Liberty 18-yard line — O’Leary lofted a pass down the middle of the field, with Smith making a sky-high leaping catch right at the goal line for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion run attempt failed, keeping the Falcons in front 28-26 with 3:09 to play in a wild third quarter.

That wildness wasn’t over yet.

In Liberty’s ensuing possession, junior Houston Lee-Perry carried the ball three consecutive times, gaining 40 yards, setting up a 10-yard touchdown run by Rekow, making the score 35-26 with 1:10 remaining in the period.

Cabezudo made the lead 42-26 when, again showing his speed and quickness, he scored on a 9-yard run, sprinting to the right side of the end zone, with 8:51 left in the game.

“There was great blocking on the outside, and I was glad I was able to get in the end zone a couple of times,” Cabezudo said.

There was no quit in Glencoe. A 37-yard pass from O’Leary to senior Cayden Mack set up a 3-yard scoring run by O’Leary, who turned a broken play into a touchdown, trimming the deficit to 42-32 with 5:55 remaining. 

But the Crimson Tide wouldn’t get any closer.

Rekow threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to junior Taku Diamond, and two plays later, Liberty junior Logan Hinojosa scooped a Glencoe fumble and ran 50 yards for a touchdown, making the score 55-32 with 2:37 left.

Glencoe got a 1-yard touchdown run by Smith with just under a minute to play, leaving the Falcons with a 55-39 conference-opening victory in front of their Homecoming crowd.

“I think it was all just mental. We made a ton of mistakes, but once we got our mental game down, we really pulled through,” Berger said of the second-half turnaround. “It’s pretty big, getting off to a good start in league. We hope to continue it all the way through Sherwood and go for league.”

“This was so fun. It was unbelievably fun,” Cabezudo said. “I can’t wait for the rest of the season.”

Liberty had 478 yards of offense on 58 plays.

“We have some great athletes on our offense, a lot of weapons,” Rekow said. “We can do anything we put our mind to, and our line can stop anyone.” 

The Falcons, behind that offensive line of Berger, junior Mitchell Mahlum, senior Jakeb Canales, junior Patrick Wooley and sophomore Tyler Clough, among others, rushed for 391 yards on 51 carries.

“We did good. We pulled it out pretty well,” Berger said.

The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Berger seemed to be a force up front on offense and defense. In addition to helping the running game on offense, Berger had a sack and two tackles for loss on defense.

“I think I did pretty good,” he said with a smile. “I got a sack in there, and on offense, I had to chase some linebackers, and I think I did pretty good.”

“He’s a monster, to put it lightly. You can’t do anything about him,” Rekow said of Berger. “No game plan can stop him, and it’s perfect to have him on my line.”

Rekow completed 4 of 7 pass attempts for 87 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 104 yards and two scores on 16 carries.

“Oh, this was awesome — I’m having a great time,” he said. 

Lee-Perry led the Liberty rushing attack with 136 yards on 13 carries. Steinbach ran for 83 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Cabezudo ran for 56 yards on six carries, scoring two touchdowns. He had a 41-yard reception. 

For the Falcons defense, Diamond had a sack and a tackle for loss. Senior Michael Campos had a tackle for loss.

Glencoe, playing without standout senior lineman Spencer Krussman, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the team’s game with Tigard on Sept. 16, had 361 yards of offense.

O’Leary, showing he’s ready to take on any task presented to him, ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. He completed 8 of 10 pass attempts for 106 yards and another score. He also stood out on special teams, returning one kickoff for 40 yards and another for 42.

“I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I just know the feeling,” O’Leary said of filling many roles.

Smith ran for his game-high 149 yards on 25 carries. He had three catches for 26 yards and a touchdown.

“I was doing pretty good,” Smith said.

Mack had two catches for 33 yards for the Crimson Tide, and junior James Kingsbury had two receptions for 42 yards.

For the Glencoe defense, sophomore Camden Roofener and junior Matt Pihl each had a fumble recovery, and junior Austin Nelson had a tackle for loss.

“Oh, 100 percent, we can build off this game. We learned a lot,” O’Leary said. “Our defense definitely learned a lot. On offense, we just kept pushing.”

“We’re going to get better, 100 percent,” Smith said.

While Glencoe is looking to build on its conference opener at Liberty, the team also enjoyed playing in the intense, high-scoring contest.

“It was actually pretty fun,” Smith said. “It was one of my favorite games.” 

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