MOUNTAIN VIEW – The formula that determines the high school football district standings isn’t easy to understand. But it wasn’t hard to figure out that a lopsided loss was going to hurt Houston’s position.
The Tigers slid from fourth to fifth place in Class 2 District 3 with a 63-7 defeat Friday night at Liberty.
Instead of hosting a district game, the Tigers will instead travel to Strafford to begin postseason play.
“We didn’t take care of business and left it in the formula’s hands,” HHS coach Eric Sloan said.
It was a predictable slide following the regular-season finale.
Liberty took control from the get-go with a short kickoff that the Eagles recovered. They scored five plays later and raced ahead 35-0 after the opening 12 minutes.
Liberty built a 49-0 halftime advantage and led 63-0 entering the fourth quarter to easily clinch the South Central Association championship.
“It was ugly from the beginning and snowballed,” Sloan said. “I’m not sure what happened.
“We don’t need to watch the film or relive any of it. That was not us.”
The good news for the Tigers (4-5, 2-5 SCA) is they get to quickly move on.
HHS hits the road Friday night to face Strafford, which moved ahead two spots from sixth to fourth to host the district opener.
Sloan said he expects a better showing from his team.
“I hope we play with a sense of urgency,” he said. “We’ve got to get out fast without hiccups and mental breakdowns. I’m hoping we’re hungry to get back on the right track. I hope we show up to play.”
There were some positives for the Tigers in the Liberty loss.
Junior Chance Hunter carried the ball 22 times for 124 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Paydon Dixon directed two fourth-quarter drives and was 3-of-4 passing for 40 yards. Two of those completions went to Michael Clayton, who caught his first career varsity passes and finished with 31 yards.
“Paydon is a gutsy fella,” Sloan said. “He’s kind of a duel threat guy. He’s got to have a good offseason for us.”
Liberty quarterback Josh Pruett threw for 208 yards and four scores. He also ran for a team-best 73 yards and a score.
Marcos Rodriguez had three second-half rushing touchdowns.
Houston converted its final drive into its lone points. Hunter had consecutive runs of 29 and 30 yards and following a 20-yard pass from Dixon to Clayton, he plowed into the end zone from two yards away with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left in the game.
The Tigers committed four turnovers –– leading to 20 Liberty points.
“Take nothing away from them. They deserve their state ranking and SCA title,” Sloan said. “I’ve never experienced giving up 35 points in a quarter. It went from bad to worse really quick.”
BOX SCORE
| Houston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | – | 7 |
| Liberty | 35 | 14 | 14 | 0 | – | 63 |
First Quarter
LIB – Pruett 5 run (Marshall pass from Pruett), 10:55.
LIB – Raider 30 pass from Pruett (Pruett kick), 9:25.
LIB – Rudolph 2 pass from Pruett (Pruett kick), 4:55.
LIB – Bush 23 pass from Pruett (kick failed), 4:04.
LIB – Rudolph 56 fumble recovery (Pruett kick), 2:30.
Second Quarter
LIB – Raider 20 pass from Pruett (Holden kick), 5:42.
LIB – Rodriguez 1 run (Holden kick), 1:19.
Third Quarter
LIB ––Rodriguez 5 run (Holden kick), 6:12.
LIB – Rodriguez 1 run (Holden kick), 0:40.
Fourth Quarter
HOU – Hunter 2 run (LKelley kick), 3:09.
| HOU | LIB | |
| First downs | 11 | 16 |
| Total yards | 176 | 420 |
| Rushes-yards | 39-125 | 31-204 |
| Passing | 51 | 216 |
| Punt returns | 0 | 18 |
| Kickoff returns | 16 | 20 |
| Comp-att-int | 5-14-2 | 15-21-1 |
| Sacked-yards lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts | 3-32.0 | 1-21.0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 4-2 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 1-1 | 4-50 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Houston, Hunter 22-124, Knarr 1-10, EKelley 1-5, Dixon 1-4, Poynter 6-(minus 18). Liberty, Pruett 8-73, Orchard 6-68, Rodriguez 12-58, Holden 3-6, Stephens 1-0, Marshall 1-(minus 1).
PASSING – Houston, Dixon 3-4-1 40. Poynter 2-10-1 11. Liberty, Pruett 13-18-1 208. Holden 2-3-0 8.
RECEIVING – Houston, Clayton 2-31, AShock 2-11, Clifton 1-9. Liberty, Raider 5-62, Bush 3-54, Rudolph 3-53, Orchard 1-24, Marshall 1-9, Foster 1-4.
1. Liberty 9-0 52.79
2. Fair Grove 6-3 39.16
3. Diamond 6-3 37.64
4. Strafford 4-5 32.06
5. Houston 4-5 31.57
6. Ash Grove 5-4 31.49
7. Willow Springs 1-8 22.57
8. Pleasant Hope 0-10 13.43
Friday’s games
(8) Pleasant Hope at (1) Liberty
(7) Willow Springs at (2) Fair Grove
(6) Ash Grove at (3) Diamond
(5) Houston at (4) Strafford