News-Sentinel staff
Liberty Ranch football continued to roll on Friday, posting a 49-7 victory over visiting Hughson.
The win was Liberty Ranch’s third in a row.
“We played well, all three phases,” Liberty Ranch coach Anthony Linebaugh said. “… This aprticular team has never beat Hughson. They played them last year, and they played them as a JV team, and Hughson won both hose games. So it was nice to play well against them.”
The Hawks (4-1) received touchdowns from Kamil Jones, Ibn Frazier and Mason Peterson. The team was particularly excited to see Peterson score, since Friday was his birthday.
“They’re very proficient at what they like to run, and we really worked hard in terms of execution, and we had a good week of practice,” Linebaugh said. “It wasn’t like we were popping off big runs, we had to work hard. We put some drives together, we scored on the first four drives, and that really set the tone for the game.”
Liberty Ranch led 35-0 at halftime, and the defense did not let up.
“This is cliche, but it was a team win. Everybody was able to play,” Linebaugh said. “Even to the last play, guys were flying around, and it was nice to see a concerted effort and a positive attitude. We’ve been positive, but the way we sustained things, it was really gratifying to see.”
The Hawks’ only loss so far was a 12-9 loss to Los Banos in the second week of play. The defense has allowed single-digit points in three of the five preseason games, with the most coming in a 26-21 win over Escalon.
“It’s been a very consistent unit this season, game in and game out,” Linebaugh said. “We’re working to get better, but we’ve had good communication. They moved the ball on us on the first drive, and we made some adjustments and held them on a fourth-down play.”
Liberty Ranch now has a week off before opening Sierra Valley Conference play against winless Union Mine.
High school football: Hawks thump Huskies, have bye before SVC opener
