The first game of the season was set to be great and filled with excitement and also the fact that it was senior night.

The Eagles defense shutout Warrenton for the first three quarters and held on late in a 21-13 victory in front of a big crowd Friday. Donovan Arrington rushed for two touchdowns and Ben Adelsberger added another one as the Eagles totaled 297 rushing yards.

Liberty begins its season 1-0 and travels to Westminster Saturday at 1 p.m. for the first of its next three games on the road.

Against Warrenton, after a scoreless first quarter with both teams frustrated, when the second quarter began the Eagles were more bound on wanting to score.

Mitchell Eckhardt intercepted a pass by Warrenton quarterback Nolan Chmiel and returned it 28 yards.

That was a turning point of the game for what is about to happen next will be what got the crowd on their feet.

Eric Mason
Warrenton gets penalized once more so the Eagles get some free yards. Then Donavan Arrington takes it himself again and rushes for about 5-6 yards and gets tackled out of bounds and some late hits come in on him that were never called. Cooper Terrell got the ball next and rung up a first down. Arrington then sped off with the ball for 9 yards bringing the Eagles within 10 yards of the endzone. And at the end of the drive, Big Ben Adelsberger gets handed the ball and powers his way into the endzone for the first touchdown of the night. After Josh Paubel kicked the extra point, the Eagles led 7-0. Finally the moment everyone was waiting for.

On the ensuing kickoff, Adelsberger recovered the kick to add to his night. On the fourth offensive play of the drive, Arrington wanted in on the scoring action and zoomed for a 20 yard touchdown run immediately after a 5 yard run. The extra point was no good but the Eagles were still shutting out the Warriors 13-0, a score that held going into halftime.

To begin the third quarter, Tyler Cotton returned the kickoff almost to the 35 yard line.

On third down, Aries Williams gained six yards to grab a first down. Williams was set to get the ball again but the ball was fumbled when being handed to him and it was kicked forward but Arrington hustled and recovered it for six yards.

Two plays later, Williams redeemed himself with a 39 yard sprint. Two plays later Arrington decided to take matters into his own hands for another time and scorch the Warriors defense for another 20 yard touchdown and the Eagles decided to go for 2 instead of kicking and extra point and Aries Williams dove into that red, white, and blue end zone for 2. The Eagles increased their advantage to 21-0 at the end of a fast-paced third quarter, which had no penalties.

The fourth quarter was probably the most exciting part of the game. Warrenton wasn’t going to leave without some last minute effort.

Warrenton finally showed that they won’t be shutout when quarterback Nolan Chmiel sped into the endzone for the Warriors first touchdown of the game. The extra point however did not go so well for them as a flock of Eagles blocked the attempt by Zac Blackwood and the Eagles lead was 21-6.

A failed attempt of an onside kick was recovered by the Eagles’ Tyler Cotton.

The crowd was hyped up for sure and really confident that Warrenton was over with by chanting “start the buses” with 3:20 left in the game but that ultimately kind of proved that you should be careful what you say because they definitely were not saying anything after what happens next.

Warrenton recovered a fumble and the crowd was in disbelief but it would get worse.

Warrenton was back on offense and Nolan Chmiel was off like the wind but was neck and neck with Donavan Arrington was even tackled by him but he reached the for the pylon before going down and had a 75 yard touchdown, which was the longest play of the game.

An extra point by Zac Blackwood and Warrenton trimmed the Eagles lead to 21-13.

Zac Blackwood then tried the onside kick again but this time it worked as Warrenton recovered the kick in crunch time. Warrenton has the ball and more than likely confidence and nervousness. Now to the most exciting play of the game.

Nolan Chmiel hikes the ball and throws an Aaron Rodgers esque hail mary pass to Connor Tittel but is instead broken up by Conner Prince and the Eagles defense surrounds him in excitement.

The crowd erupted into screaming and joy as they can now finally say that the game is over.

The final score was 21-13 with the Eagles shutting Warrenton out for three quarters.

Now it was senior night so that means the next big game to come is the homecoming game but senior night included festivities.

To read more about senior night festivities, check out Chasteanne Salvosa’s story right here!

LIBERTY 21

WARRENTON 13

                        1    2    3    4    F

Warrenton  0    0   0   13 – 13

Liberty         0   13   8   0 – 21