By Jimmy Kirby
Courier Sports

jkirby@thepccourier.com

LIBERTY — In order to win, a team must score. [cointent_lockedcontent]For a while on Friday, it looked like the Liberty Red Devils would make it through a second scoreless regulation game on the season and face

Brandy Karr/Photo
Liberty quarterback Austin Hughey breaks away for a long run against Pendleton on Friday night.

another overtime battle.

That was not the case, however, as Colin Bunch came off the bench to throw two second-half touchdown passes and lead the Pendleton Bulldogs to a stingy 14-7 victory over the Red Devils in the last home game of the season for Liberty.

Bunch actually started on defense and was forced into duty at quarterback when Gibson Black left the game late in the first quarter with an injury.

Both teams failed to score in the first half in thies defensive battle. The Bulldogs turned the ball over four times deep in Liberty territory — including once at the Red Devil 1-yard line — without getting on the board. The other three times were by punt, a fumble and a missed field goal.

The Red Devils only crossed midfield once in the first half, with a drive ending on downs at the Pendleton 45-yard line.

Miscues hurt both teams as well. The Bulldogs were penalized 19 times for 161 yards and turned the ball over on a fumble and an interception, while turnovers hurt the Red Devils. Liberty quarterbacks threw five interceptions on the night — three by Nick Reeves and two by Austin Hughey.

Bunch connected with Nicquan Ramsey good for a 45-yard scoring strike to open the second half and put the Bulldogs up 7-0 with 10:04 remaining in the third quarter. The three-play drive covered 56 yards.

Bunch was also the defensive star of the game, as he then picked off a Hughey pass at the Liberty 31-yard line and returned it 13 yards to the Liberty 18-yard line. It was the third interception of the game for Bunch, who also picked off two other Red Devil passes in the first half.

Bunch found Malik Grate in the back of the end zone from 13 yards out to put the Bulldogs up 14-0 with 8:46 remaining in the third quarter.

The Red Devils finally found their rhythm late in the fourth quarter and put together a drive of 90 yards in only four plays to cut the Pendleton lead in half at 14-7. Tyler Renaud scored from four yards out to cap the drive. Hughey had two huge runs for 18 yards and 53 yards to set up the score. It appeared Hughey scored on the long run, but it was ruled he stepped out of bounds at the Bulldog 4-yard line.

The Red Devils got the ball back one more time, but the turnover bug reared its ugly head once more with Liberty deep in Pendleton territory. This time, Hank Martin grabbed his second interception of the game to seal the victory for the Bulldogs.

The combo of Reeves and Hughey were 0-for-10 passing on the night with the five total interceptions. The Red Devils had only 170 yards rushing in the game, and that number was inflated by Hughey’s big run late in the fourth quarter.

Aaron Bates led the Red Devil defense with 11 tackles, including three tackles for loss. It was not a bad night defensively for the Red Devils, as they only surrendered 215 total yards to Pendleton. The winning defensive effort was damaged by the lack of balance offensively for the Red Devils.

Liberty is averaging just 10.8 points per game with only the Carolina Trojans remaining on the schedule. The Devils have scored only 97 points this season and have been held to single-digit point totals in five contests. The Red Devils have outgained their opponents by about 600 yards on the ground this season, but have managed only 205 yards through the air compared to 1,542 by their opponents.

With the loss, the Red Devils fell to 2-7 overall and 1-5 in region play. Pendleton is now 7-2 overall and 5-1 in region play.

The Red Devils will make the short trip to Greenville to take on Carolina on Friday the last game of the season. It will be the Devils’ final chance to find balance in a season that has definitely had its ups and downs.

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