With the student section hyped and the band prepped, the 2025 football season started with a bang as the Eagles traveled to and had no trouble defeating Howell Central 49-21 Thursday night.
Sullivan Thornton (12) threw three touchdown passes and also rushed for 88 yards in the victory. Jaylen Mack (12) led the team in rushing on the ground with 61 yards on 9 carries. He also had three punt returns for 104 yards. Caiden Galati (12) contributed with 60 receiving yards.
The Liberty offense wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. They received the ball and within four minutes, running back Jaylen Mack scored the first touchdown to take a quick 7-0 lead. With 2 minutes remaining, Caden Cosey (12) recovered a fumble on the 20 yard line by the Spartans. The scored remained 7-0 at the end of the first.
By the second quarter, wide receiver Caden Galati scored the second touchdown for the Eagles. By the 7 minute mark, Mack caught a punt return and ran for the 73-yard touchdown. With a minute and a half remaining, the Spartans scored their first touchdown, followed by an extra point. As the final seconds were on the clock, Mack scored a touchdown from the 20-yard line. The Eagles took a 28-7 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was back-and-forth with no team scoring points.
The last quarter of the game started off strong with the Thornton running for a 13-yard touchdown. Thirteen seconds later, Carson Struttmann (12) got an interception. Then, the Eagles offense went back onto the field and just under the 10 minute mark, Caleb Orcutt (11) hauled in a 40-yard TD pass. Christian Martin (12) followed with a 20-yard touchdown to complete the Eagles’ scoring. Kicker Zander Killian (11) made all seven extra-point attempts.
The Spartans scored another touchdown at the six-minute mark, and with a minute remaining, Spartans scored the final touchdown of the night.
The Eagles travel to Timberland next Friday for another game on the road before opening their home schedule against Warrenton on Sept. 12.
LIBERTY 49, HOWELL CENTRAL 21
Liberty 7 21 0 21 – 49
Howell Central 0 7 0 14 – 21
Scoring
First Quarter
L: Jaylen Mack 22 run (Zander Killian kick)
Second Quarter
L: Caiden Galati 51 pass from Sullivan Thornton (Zander Killian kick)
L: Jaylen Mack 73 punt return (Zander Killian kick)
F: 13 pass from Jason Campbell (Lukas Davis kick)
L: Jaylen Mack 25 pass from Sullivan Thornton (Zander Killian kick)
Fourth Quarter
L: Sullivan Thornton 11 run (Zander Killian kick)
L: Caleb Orcutt 40 pass from Sullivan Thornton (Zander Killian kick)
F: Jason Campbell 3 run (Lukas Davis kick)
L: Christian Martin 20 run (Zander Killian kick)
F: Don Thornton 10 pass from Jason Campbell (Lukas Davis kick)
