Liberty Hill outlasts Hutto 82-80 — in high school football, not basketball

LIBERTY HILL — “This is the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of. No doubt about it.”

Liberty Hill head coach Kent Walker was left somewhat stunned after his team gutted out an 82-80 win over Hutto on Friday night, in a game that will live on in fans’ memories for a long time.

It was an offensive slugfest that saw the teams trade blows for most of the game with both defenses being torn apart like paper.

Liberty Hill’s slot-T attack led the way, with running back Noah Long finishing with 300 yards, four rushing touchdowns and a kick return for another. His fellow back, Ben Carter ran for 388 yards and four rushing touchdowns as well.

The Panthers finished with an astounding 762 yards on the ground.

Hutto (1-1) quarterback Will Hammond, who Walker called “maybe the best quarterback in the state of Texas,” ended his night with 719 yards passing, 88 yards rushing, four passing touchdowns and six rushing touchdowns.

Hippos wideout Alex Green hauled in 15 catches for 275 yards, with teammate Keilan Chavies making seven receptions for 243 yards.

“Defense did let up 80 points," Liberty Hill (1-1) defensive back Kendrick Hicks said. "A team should never lose with 80 points. I’m proud of our offense and how we played as a team and how we never backed down.”

The Panthers held the lead for most of the night, going back and forth between holding a two and a one score lead. But things became wobbly in the fourth quarter after a fumble gave the Hippos the ball at Liberty Hill’s 44-yard line. A swift QB sneak by Hammond cut the lead to 75-73 with 6:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Walker’s team gritted its teeth through the bleeding. After tearing off chunk play after chunk play, it was a fourth-and-2 conversion that ended up being Carter’s most important run of the night. It led to Liberty Hill running back Jaxson Hines powering the ball through at the 4-yard line, which effectively decided the game.

“They’ve got so much determination and grit,” Walker said. “I can’t say enough about our kids and about how much they fight. I’m so proud of them.”

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The first quarter saw some strong offense from both sides, but the second quarter was when the game began to get crazy. The two teams traded chunk plays back and forth, scoring five touchdowns total in between 4:48 and 2:10 on the clock, with the Panthers leaving the bout with the lead at 39-28.

In the middle of the offensive shootout, Hicks intercepted Hammond off a tipped pass for a rare defensive highlight. Long capitalized for his fourth touchdown of the half, but Hutto responded with a catch and lateral from 41 yards out to end the half.

Coming out of the half, both offenses continued to cruise.

Long kicked things off by running back the opening kickoff for his fifth touchdown of the night. Both teams scored on every ensuing drive except Liberty Hill’s final possession and the aforementioned fumble.

After a difficult 49-17 loss in Week 1 to Wagner, Long was happy to see his team bounce back to grab such a difficult win.

Despite the glamour of the win, the Panther’s defense is an issue. Having opponents averaging 64.5 points per game, albeit after two weeks, is less than ideal. The Panthers will need to be better when they take on Georgetown next Friday at 7 p.m.

After all, it’s not like the offense can get much better than this. Right?

“Oh, it definitely can get better,” Walker said. “I promise you we’ll get better than we were tonight.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Liberty Hill football scrapes by Hutto 82-80 in offensive shootout