Big defensive play, Navi Bruzon fuel Liberty over Centennial for top seed in Open

Peoria Liberty faced its only in-state football challenge on the final Friday of the regular-season. But it came through, beating rival Peoria Centennial, 36-17, before a crowd so large at Liberty that the fans stood along both sidelines and the end lines behind the end zone three to four deep,

Everybody wanted to see if Liberty would finally be challenged.

It was for nearly three quarters, before the defense shut Centennial down the rest of the way. But the Lions needed three second-half touchdown passes from Navi Bruzon, including 67- and 74-yarders to Braylon Gardner, and linebacker Keaton Stam's 36-yard interception return for a score with 28 seconds left in the first half to head into the Open state playoffs in two weeks as the No. 1 seed.

This is the second year in a row that Liberty (9-1) will be the top seed in the state's biggest bracket. But the Lions know there is unfinished business, such as ending a semifinal jinx that ended their season the last three years a game short of the final.

Here are some takeaways:

Biggest hurdle

This was the hardest game for Liberty (9-1) to get through in Arizona. Its only loss came in California, a 42-35 setback to Corona Centennial. But in Arizona, there has been no peers. Until Friday, when Centennial (9-1) didn't let the Lions tear off big plays on offense for a half.

But the lone mistake came when backup quarterback Danny Avila came in for Kainan Manna for a series late in the second quarter and threw a pass that was intercepted by Keaton Stam and returned 36 yards for touchdown with 28 seconds left. That gave Liberty a 17-3 lead heading into halftime.

"Big players make big-time plays, and I just made a play," Stam said.

Centennial coach Richard Taylor liked how his team responded in the second half with Marcus Logan returning the kickoff 95 yards for a TD to open the half, and trading touchdowns with the Lions to keep it a one-touchdown score, before Bruzon connected deep with Gardner for a 74-yard score to give the Lions a 30-17 lead with 7:16 left in the third quarter.

"They were clearly the better team tonight," Taylor said. "Hats off to them. They did well. The kids played hard. We just didn't play well enough."

Overcoming injuries, mistakes

Liberty was without one of its best offensive linemen, tackle Kaden Haeckel, who was out with an arm injury. He is expected back for the playoffs. In the second quarter, tailback Jon Wilson suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury as he lost his shoe and fumbled the ball away on the play.

Wilson returned for a series late in the third quarter and had two strong runs. But he didn't return after that. He said after the game he expects to play in the playoff.

Bruzon overthrew a target in the first half that was intercepted by Logan. And Gardner, after making a catch over the middle, fumbled the ball that was pulled away by Aaden Nguyen at the Centennial 2 in the first half.

"My teammates brought me up," Gardner said.

Bruzon said turnovers like that can't happen in the playoffs.

"We turned the ball over on back to back to back drives," Bruzon said. "You can't do that against good teams like Centennial. At halftime, we talked about knowing we can control the oucome of the game."

Good test before state

The 19 points was the closest margin of victory against an Arizona team this year. The 36 points were the second-fewest the Lions scored this year against an in-state foe, second only to Saguaro in the 31-3 win two weeks ago.

It was only the second time Liberty didn't have a running clock in the second half against an Arizona school.

"We'll probably see them again," Bruzon said. "They're a very talented team. Their defense is probably the best I ever played against in Arizona."

Liberty coach Colin Thomas said he felt Stam's play was the momentum boost his team need.

"They're a big-momentum team," Thomas said of Centennial. "And they got it right back to start the second half. But when Navi hit Bray, we took it right back. That was big."

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Big defensive play, Bruzon fuel Liberty over Centennial for top seed