Liberty Hangs with WVU, 33-20, in Opener

Opening on the road for the first time during the Rocco era of Liberty Football, a young Flames squad showed it is ready to carry on a growing tradition set before them. Facing one of the nation's top FBS programs, Liberty began the 2009 season with a 33-20 setback to West Virginia, Saturday afternoon, on Mountaineer Field in Milan Puskar Stadium.

Liberty, which is coming off its best season of football in 2008 when the Flames finished ranked No. 14 in the nation and with a 10-2, falls to 0-1 on the year, dropping its opening for the first time since the 2003 season.

The homestanding Mountaineers won the coin toss and elected to take the ball for their first possession of the 2009 season. The quarterback/running back tandem of Jarrett Brown and Noel Devine quickly moved West Virginia into Flames territory during the game's opening possession.

After getting inside Liberty's 20-yard line, Devine dropped a handoff from Jarrett Brown, resulting in a six-yard loss on the play. On the next snap, Brown dumped a pass off to Devine in the flat, but the junior was held to just two yards, forcing West Virginia to settle for a 38-yard field goal from Tyler Bitancurt.

Liberty managed to get into the Mountaineers' side of the field without its offense even taking the field on the ensuing kickoff, as Mike Brown returned the kick 45 yards to the WVU 49-yard line.

Three plays later, Flames starting quarterback Tommy Beecher was able to break free of containment and scramble for a 16-yard gain, followed by a 15-yard dead ball personal foul penalty to move to the West Virginia 15-yard line.

Another Beecher rush, this time for seven yards, advanced the Flames three yards closer to the end zone, but the drive eventually stalled. Liberty ended up having to settle for a 32-yard Matt Bevins' field goal, knotting the contest at 3-3 with 8:00 left to play in the opening quarter.

West Virginia's offense started to find its stride on its next drive, moving the ball 76 yards in 10 plays to find the end zone for the first time on the afternoon.

The 10-play drive was spotlighted by 27 rushing yards from Devine and 43 combined rushing and passing yards from Jarrett Brown, setting up a two-yard rushing touchdown by Ryan Clarke at 2:53 to give West Virginia a 10-3 edge.

Beecher was able to move Liberty's offensive effectively downfield on the Flames' next possession, as the South Carolina transfer completed 5-of-6 passing attempts for 73 yards.

The fifth and final completion was a notable play for Liberty, as head coach Danny Rocco kept his team on the field on a fourth-and-second play from the West Virginia 20-yard line.

Beecher got flushed from the pocket, but found Mike Brown open in the flat for the sophomore's fifth reception of the drive, finding an opening on the near sideline to score from 20 yards out. The score tied the game at 10-10 with 12:52 left before the break.

The back-and-forth scoring battle continued on the ensuing drive, keyed by a pair of 20-yard plays involving Jarrett Brown. Both came on lengthy third-down plays. The first took place when Liberty had the Mountaineers at third-and-18, but Brown found Brad Starks open for a 21-yard reception to give the home team a new set of downs.

Four plays later, West Virginia was at Liberty's 22-yard line on a third-and-13 play, when Jarrett Brown called his own number and scampered 22 yards up the middle for a score, pushing West Virginia into the advantage at 17-10 at 8:44.

The remainder of the half turned into more of a defensive struggle, as both sets of defensive units kept their opposing offenses out of the end zone. West Virginia was able to tack on six additional points, thanks to 35 and 45 yard field goals by Bitancurt to give the Mountaineers a 23-10 lead, following the first 30 minutes of action.

West Virginia more than doubled Liberty's offensive production in the first half, as the Mountaineers gained 298 yards on 37 plays, as compared to Liberty's 144 yards on 25 plays.

The quarterbacks were the most productive players for both teams during the first half. West Virginia's Jarrett Brown completed 15-of-19 passing attempts for 188 yards, while Beecher was 12-of-16 for 104 yards and a score for Liberty.

The two teams traded a pair of unproductive drives to open the second half. However, Liberty's second drive in the third quarter managed to pull the Flames to within 10 points.

Liberty's Aldreakis Allen started to see his playing time increase on the next drive, as the true freshman helped the Flames move up the field by gaining 20 yards on three rushing attempts, while Beecher completed three-straight passing attempts for 29 yards.

However, his fourth attempt, on a third-and-three play from the 33-yard line, just got past Jimmy Eden, leaving the Flames to settle for a field goal. Bevins knocked down his second of the afternoon, sending a 49-yarder through the uprights. The lengthy kick was the longest of the sophomore's career and tied for the fourth longest in program history.

West Virginia managed to piece together its longest drive of the afternoon on the ensuing drive, but the 11-play drive only moved the ball 44 yards downfield. The drive stalled, forcing the home team to settle for a 36-yard Bitancurt field goal with 15 ticks left on the third quarter clock.

The Mountaineers first two drives of the fourth and final quarter totaled five plays, but allowed West Virginia to push its lead to 20 points. On the first drive, a pair of runs by Devine and an incomplete pass by Jarrett Brown forced the first three-and-out series of the afternoon.

Eight plays later, Liberty turned the ball over for the second time on the afternoon, as Beecher's attempted pass to Chris Summers was picked off by Robert Sands at the West Virginia 38-yard line.

On the ensuing play, Jarrett Brown found Jock Sanders open on the far side of the field for a 38-yard gain, followed by Devine busting up the middle to score on a 24-yard rush for a 33-13 West Virginia lead with 6:57 left in the game.

Liberty kept to its game plan on the following drive and pieced together its longest march of the afternoon. Beecher completed 4-of-5 passing attempts for 66 yards, setting up Mike Brown, who took a direct snap and found the corner of the near-side end zone for a touchdown.

The sophomore's nine-yard scamper completed an 11-play, 70-yard drive, which ate up 6:00 on the game clock, and pulled the Flames within the game's final 13-point margin with 52 seconds left on the game clock.

Liberty's defense managed to hold the Mountaineers offense to half its opening 30 minutes yardage, as West Virginia only complied 140 of its 438 total offensive yards in the second half. Liberty finished the game with 299 total offensive yards, failing to hit the 300-yard mark for the first time in 17 games and just the fourth time under head coach Danny Rocco.

Jarrett Brown ended the game by completing 19-of-26 passing attempts for 243 yards, while Beecher countered by connecting on 22-of-33 attempts for 210 yards and a score.

Devine picked up half of West Virginia's rushing attempts, getting 17 handoffs for 112 yards and a touchdown, while Jarrett Brown followed with nine carries for 69 yards and a score. Allen was the biggest ground gainer for the Flames, rushing for 36 yards on 10 carries in his first collegiate game, while Beecher called his own number nine times for 30 rushing yards.

Mike Brown picked up the most total yards for the Flames on the afternoon, as the sophomore caught 11 passes for 157 yards, rushed twice for nine yards and returned three kickoffs for 107 yards.

The kickers were perfect on the afternoon, as Bitancurt knocked down four field goals (38, 35, 45 and 36 yards) to set a new Liberty opponent record for field goals in game. Bevins knocked down both of his attempts (32 and 49 yards), running his consecutive field goal streak to 10 straight.

Linebacker captain Wes Cheek was Liberty's leading tackler, finishing the game with eight stops, including five solo tackles. Terry Adams followed by nearly doubling his career tackle total (17), as the junior finished second on the squad with seven stops.

The Flames will return to action next weekend, when they welcome North Carolina Central to Williams Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., inside Williams Stadium, marking the 21st year of competition for the Flames at the 12,000-seat, on-campus facility.

North Carolina Central will be playing its second-straight road game to open the 2009 campaign, as the Eagles are slated to face Hampton later on this evening. The match-up between the Flames and the Eagles will mark the first in the series between the two programs.

Schedule

Liberty Hangs with WVU, 33-20, in Opener

Next Event

Team Stats

Tommy Beecher

Players Mentioned

Terry Adams

Tommy Beecher

Matt Bevins

Mike Brown

Wes Cheek

Jimmy Eden

Chris Summers