Patriots capture SEYL title
| Friday, Nov 13 2009 11:27 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 13 2009 11:27 PM
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Casey Christie / The Californian Liberty's #14, wide receiver, Hough, makes a catch in the end zone for a touchdown, with only a few seconds left in the second quarter against Garces' David Banda, left, Friday, at Garces.
Casey Christie / The Californian Garces Nick Vehlewald gains yards Friday, while pushing off on Liberty's Rane Cravens, at Sam Tobias field in Bakersfield.
Casey Christie / The Californian Liberty quarterback Dillon Meadows jumps over a Garces player, Friday, during game action at Garces.
Casey Christie / The Californian Garces' Sam Layton, tackles Liberty's Carson Moyer, Friday, at Sam Tobias field during first half action.
Casey Christie / The Californian Garces' Grant Campbell gains yards Friday with lots of Liberty players coming after him.
Casey Christie / The Californian Garces' Nick Vehlewald comes after Liberty's quarterback, Dillon Meadows, Friday, at Garces.
Casey Christie / The Californian A Liberty ball carrier, #28, is taken down by several Garces players, Friday, in Bakersfield at Sam Tobias field.
Casey Christie / The Californian Garces' Grant Campbell is taken down by several Liberty players, Friday, at Garces.
The final champions of the Southeast Yosemite League will go down as a team with a stifling defense and an offense that does just enough.
Wait a minute. As of Friday, that statement is going to have to be adjusted.
"Let me strike the record on that one," Liberty coach Tony Mills said. "I've got Dillon Meadows, and he's very explosive. He's really coming into his own at the quarterback position."
Behind Meadows, Liberty routed Garces 35-6 at Sam Tobias Field to finish an unbeaten SEYL season in the last year before the league dissolves.
Meadows threw for 152 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 139 more yards, showing that he's a dual-threat quarterback capable of making big plays in the Patriots' spread offense.
"They were stopping the run really good, so they knew we could do that," Meadows said. "They didn't respect our passing game that much, and we just showed them we could."
Liberty's defense did its usual thing, shutting out a Garces offense that had averaged 50 points a game over its last six contests. The Rams scored only on Jalen Sykes' 49-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter.
Liberty (7-3, 6-0 SEYL) held Garces (6-4, 4-2) to 125 yards of offense and just 30 in the second half.
"They're just big and physical and fast," Garces coach David Fanucchi said. "It's a front we've seen before and that we've blocked before. They just play it very well."
Defense, as Mills told his team afterwards, will continue to be the calling card for Liberty (7-3, 6-0 SEYL).
"Garces High School, to hold those guys scoreless (on offense), that's really incredible," Mills said. "Our defensive coaches do such a great job."
But after struggling to score in losses to Clovis West, Centennial and Stockdale and even a few wins earlier this season, it's clear the Patriots have figured some things out on offense, too.
Liberty led just 7-0 late in the first half when it faced a third-and-9 from its own 7-yard line. That's when Meadows went to work.
He scrambled for 16 yards and a first down, then got 8 more on the next play. After that, he rolled to his left, got a couple of defenders to come towards him, and flipped the ball over their heads to Tyler Gellinck for 21 yards.
Meadows and the suddenly potent Patriots were running a two-minute drill. He finished it with a 21-yard strike to Ross Hough for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead with eight seconds left.
"A lot of their plays, especially early, was Dillon getting out of the pocket and putting a lot of pressure on our secondary," Fanucchi said. "They had to come up because he was breaking contain, and he's so dangerous when he does that."
Meadows' 23-yard option keeper on a third down in the third quarter set up his 5-yard TD swing pass to Gellinck, and he added scoring throws of 15 yards to Beau Hashim and 50 to Gellinck in the fourth quarter.
That's four TD passes.
"Most I've ever thrown before is two," Meadows said.
Now the trick will be to do this in the Division I playoffs. Brackets are released today, and Mills said he hopes for a home game but told his team to be ready to play anyone anywhere.
"As long as we can play great disciplined defense and take care of the football, we've got a chance against anybody," Mills said. "I'm not saying we're going to walk in as the favorite, but if we play our 'A' game, there's a pretty good opportunity."
