Just three years removed from its thrilling overtime victory in the PIAA AAAA state finals over Bethel Park, the Liberty Hurricanes once again find themselves making some noise and knocking on the statewide radar. Second year head coach Dave Brown saw his squad reach the Eastern Conference AAAA championship game last season, and while the EC playoffs don’t carry the same weight they once did, the experience should help to serve as a springboard for Liberty, which returns 17 starters between offense and defense from its 2010 edition.
Perhaps most important for the Hurricanes is the presence of four returning offensive linemen – Ahmad McFarland (6-3, 220), Anthony Castillo (6-1, 225), Barry Temple (6-4, 300) and Greg Tkacik (6-1, 250) – who helped pave the way for an offense which averaged more than 330 yards rushing and 26 points per game. And it always helps to have some athletes in the backfield returning to pilot a flexbone/triple-option offense – and Liberty’s got plenty of talent at its disposal with Devon Jones (68 rush, 588 yds, 12 TD; 6 rec., 110 yds, 4 TD); James McCarthy (880 rush yds, 662 pass yds, 20 total TD); Michael Harris (67 rush, 680 yds, 8 TD; 9 rec., 292 yds, 2 TD); and Stephon Font-Toomer (121 rush, 645 yds, 3 TD).
Defensively, Font-Toomer will spearhead the linebacking corps and has generated Division-1 interest at the position, and Anthony Orlando registered 67 tackles, 2 INT and 2 fumble recoveries. Liberty has enough firepower to not only make those bagpipes wail but also to charge toward its sixth District 11 championship in school history and fourth such title since 2005.
3 Responses
I think Whitehall, naz and liberty are pretty close this year based on returning roster. It’s going to be a fun season t watch and playoff time is going to be crazy good! Good for football fans!
i think nazareth will be very good i like harding alot leading that offense i just think the state wide doubters are looking at the loss of dibilio but they have some good athletes on both sides of the ball they should be in the mix its only preseason rankings we’ll see what happens when games start but liberty do have some studs in that backfield with good size on the line so i think they have deserved some recognition even tho they didnt make districts last yr in a tough lvc
Nazareth should be ranked higher than Liberty.