The Houston football team had an opportunity to accomplish something the program hadn’t experienced in 13 years.

Instead, the Tigers will take a familiar path into the postseason.

By beating Liberty in Friday’s regular-season finale, HHS would have hosted a first-round district game. It would have been the first postseason game in Houston since the 2005 season. But it didn’t come close to happening.

The Eagles shredded Houston with their patented air attack and cruised to a convincing 41-13 victory.

The defeat means the Tigers will again hit the road for the opening round of districts. And it’s a familiar trip. HHS will travel to Strafford for the third time in four seasons to open play in Class 2 District 3.

Houston (5-4) lost the previous two trips to the Springfield-area school.

“They remind me a lot of Liberty. They like to spread you out and throw it around,” Houston coach Eric Sloan said. “It’s going to be a good test for us. There’s a lot to play for. We’ve gotta get prepped, have a good week of practice and see what happens.”

Houston (5-4, 3-4 South Central Association) and Strafford were both jumped by teams due to head-to-head losses.

The Tigers finished fifth in the district but slid down to sixth based on last week’s loss at Mountain Grove. Strafford –– one of three 8-1 teams at the top of the district –– moved down from second to third due to a regular-season loss to Fair Grove.

Ava, the SCA champions for the second straight year, earned the district’s top seed and will host winless Forsyth. In the other matchups, second-seeded Fair Grove hosts No. 7 Willow Springs while fifth-seeded Mountain Grove will travel to No. 4 Liberty.

The Eagles (6-3, 5-2 SCA) put to rest any notion of Houston hosting a district game by scoring 21 first-quarter points and comfortably leading 34-7 at the half.

The Tigers had no luck slowing Liberty’s passing game as Jaris Acklin threw for 260 yards and five touchdowns. He hooked up with wideout Colten Foster 11 times for 210 yards and four scores.

Liberty has won every matchup with Houston dating back to the 2005 season.

“It’s kind of the same story, different year when we play those guys,” Sloan said. “They did what what they do very well and what has been our Achilles’ heel in years past stuck out in the first half. We struggled to defend them.”

Even when HHS got defensive stops, Liberty was able to extend drives on special teams. The Eagles converted three fake punts into first downs, beginning with a 41-yard pass from punter Andrew Holden to Foster late in the first quarter.

“We just went brain dead,” Sloan said.

It wasn’t much better offensively for Houston.

{{tncms-inline alignment=”right” content=”<p>1. Ava 8-1 47.24</p> <p>2. *Fair Grove 8-1 44.46</p> <p>3. Strafford 8-1 45.47</p> <p>4. Liberty 6-3 39.96</p> <p>5. *Mountain Grove 5-4 32.29</p> <p>6. Houston 5-4 33.67</p> <p>7. Willow Springs 1-8 19.07</p> <p>8. Forsyth 0-9 16.51</p> <p><em>*Moved up one spot due to head-to-head regular-season victory</em></p> <p>––––––––</p> <p><strong>Friday’s games</strong></p> <p>(8) Forsyth at (1) Ava</p> <p>(7) Willow Springs at (2) Fair Grove</p> <p>(6) Houston at (3) Strafford</p> <p>(5) Mountain Grove at (4) Liberty</p>” id=”a544c7aa-86aa-4302-b2ee-bede927b324b” style-type=”bio” title=”CLASS 2 DISTRICT 3″ type=”relcontent” width=”half”}}

The Tigers managed just one first down –– a four-yard run by Daniel Hutcheson with 3.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter. By then Houston trailed 31-13.

The team’s points came on a pair of long touchdown runs by Hutcheson. He broke loose for an 80-yard scamper late in the first half and on the Tigers’ opening drive of the third quarter, sprinted 70 yards for another score.

“When we blocked the way we were supposed to, Hutcheson got out the back door and to the house,” Sloan said. “It was like all at once we forgot what we were supposed to do. We’re playing very inexperienced up front, and I don’t know why.”

Hutcheson had 17 carries for 167 yards and his team-leading 10th and 11th touchdowns of the season. He enters district play 135 yards shy of 1,000 for the season.

Defensively, senior Paydon Dixon had an interception in the second quarter that knocked him out of the game when he landed awkwardly on the long jump track behind the end zone.

The Tigers’ seniors –– Dixon, CJ Lee, Brecken Adey, Aiden Sawyer, Dawson Koch, Karson Miller, Blake Harrison, Tylor Zehm, Blake York and William Wilson –– were honored on Senior Night prior to the game alongside family members. Senior members of the band and cheer team were also recognized.

BOX SCORE

Liberty 21 13 0 7 –– 41

Houston 0 7 6 0 –– 13

First Quarter

LIB –– Foster 39 pass from Acklin (Holden kick), 9:14.

LIB –– Foster 41 pass from Holden (Holden kick), 3:03.

LIB –– Holden 10 pass from Acklin (Holden kick), 0:09.

Second Quarter

LIB –– Foster 11 pass from Acklin (Holden kick), 3:21.

HOU –– Hutcheson 80 run (Lee kick), 2:23.

LIB –– Holden 3 pass from Acklin (run failed), 0:03.

Third Quarter

HOU –– Hutcheson 70 run (kick failed), 10:45.

Fourth Quarter

LIB –– Stretch 36 pass from Acklin (Holden kick), 7:16.

––––––

LIB HOU

First downs 23 1

Total yards 442 204

Rushes-yards 34-141 33-196

Passing 301 8

Punt returns 15 0

Kickoff returns 33 40

Comp-att-int 20-32-1 2-6-0

Sacked-yards lost 3-25 0-0

Punts 6-29.2 7-36.0

Fumbles-lost 3-0 3-1

Penalties-yards 5-40 1-5

––––––

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING –– Liberty, Stephens 23-91, Marshall 5-33, Cornman 10-28, Holden 2-18, Acklin 7-(minus 29). Houston, Hutcheson 17-167, Sawyer 7-21, Dixon 8-6, Burchet 1-(minus 2).

PASSING –– Liberty, Acklin 19-31-1 260, Holden 1-1-0 41. Houston, Burchett 2-6-0 8.

RECEIVING –– Liberty, Foster 11-210, Holden 6-60, Stretch 1-22, Marshall 2-15. Houston, Lee 1-4, Wilson 1-4.

1. Ava 8-1 47.24

2. *Fair Grove 8-1 44.46

3. Strafford 8-1 45.47

4. Liberty 6-3 39.96

5. *Mountain Grove 5-4 32.29

6. Houston 5-4 33.67

7. Willow Springs 1-8 19.07

8. Forsyth 0-9 16.51

*Moved up one spot due to head-to-head regular-season victory

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Friday’s games

(8) Forsyth at (1) Ava

(7) Willow Springs at (2) Fair Grove

(6) Houston at (3) Strafford

(5) Mountain Grove at (4) Liberty