LRS beats Liberty in season opener

RITZVILLE – In a defensive battle, the Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos beat the Liberty Lancers 18-7 on Friday night. "These were two evenly matched teams", said LRS head coach Greg Whitmore. Ashton Strobel #2 scored a Liberty touchdown in the first quarter and the Lancers took a 7-6 lead to the locker room at halftime. But the Lancers were shut out by the LRS defense in the second half.

With 35 seconds to go in the third quarter LRS scored on a 10 yard pass from #15 Chase Galbreath to #13 Nick Labes. The 2 point try failed. LRS had a 12-7 lead when the quarter ended.

Midway through the fourth quarter a Liberty drive ended when #11 Travis Redburn stripped the ball from a Liberty ball carrier. Two plays later the Broncos scored on a 3 yard pass from Galbreath to #7 Hunter Dinkins. The 2 point conversion failed. LRS was leading 18-7 with 8:30 to go in the game.

A long drive by Liberty, late in the fourth quarter, ended when Chase Galbreath intercepted a Lancer pass in the end zone with 3:55 to go in the game.

The Broncos tried to run out the clock on the running of #24 Brock Kinch. The drive stalled and LRS punted with 1:37 to go in the game. Liberty was unable to move the ball after that, and the game ended when LRS sacked the Lancer quarterback as time expired. The final score, Lind-Ritzville-Sprague 18, Liberty 7.

After the game Whitmore said "it's not really an upset. They lost a lot of their horses from last year."

Next week Liberty hosts Kettle Falls while Lind-Ritzville-Sprague travels to Davenport. In talking about the next opponent Whitmore said "Davenport are Gorillas. Big and strong. We have film on them from the Jamboree. We can't make any mistakes. We have to execute."