Liberty Football defeats Maine 59-44 in Saturday shootout

Homecoming game. 

A total of 103 points and over 1,000 yards
of offense. 

The fifth win in a row for the Flames. 

But the story of Saturday night’s football game, where the Flames prevailed 59-44 over the Maine Black Bears, runs much deeper than a few hours
of football.

When seniors Stephen Buckshot Calvert and Antonio Gandy-Golden were in high school, the two connected after learning they would play together in college. They used to talk about how they would set records at Liberty. On Saturday night, they both met that goal when Calvert became Liberty’s all-time passing yards leader, and Gandy-Golden set the school’s receiving yards record.

“We would talk on Twitter about how we were going to break all the records,” Calvert said. “Four years later, it’s actually happening. It’s a humbling and blessed experience.”

Gandy-Golden did not have to wait long Saturday night before setting his mark. Needing only 25 yards to break the record, Gandy-Golden hauled in a 21-yard pass to open the game. The very next play, he caught another 14-yard pass to cement his place in school history after setting the school receiving touchdown mark earlier this season.

This was all part of a four-play, 80-yard opening touchdown drive.

“I told them this was how we were going to start the game,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said. “We’re going to go verticals the first three plays, and we fall out of our verticals on the outside, which Gandy-Golden did early. It got Buckshot into a rhythm.” 

The opening drive set the tone for the entire first half.

After holding Maine to a field goal, freshman Shedro Louis returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown on the Flames next possession, catapulting the Flames into a scoring barrage. The Flames racked up huge numbers through the air, and Maine had no answer for Liberty’s fast tempo.

“We play like that all the time in practice, but we haven’t been doing it that much in games,” Gandy-Golden said. “Tonight, it really worked. They were tired, and they were struggling to get lined up. I feel like you will see a lot
more of that.”

Liberty continued to score, and when redshirt freshman Troy Henderson caught a touchdown pass to put the Flames up 31-3 early in the second quarter, it felt as though the Flames could do no wrong.

But Maine’s first sign of life came after senior Bejour Wilson landed a huge hit that resulted in a targeting penalty and ejection. The penalty extended Maine’s drive, and it allowed freshman quarterback Joe Fagnano to deliver a 28-yard strike to put Maine in the end zone for the first time. 

Yet Liberty maintained control throughout the rest of the half, taking a 45-17 lead into the break during Freeze’s first game of being fully mobile on the sideline.

“Now that he’s back on the sideline, and able to be himself, it helped our offense,” junior running back Joshua Mack said. “It helps us to clear our reads up and simplifies everything for us.”

The second half started much as the first when Calvert connected with junior receiver D.J. Stubbs for his fourth passing touchdown of the game, putting the Flames up 52-17.

Then Liberty decided to bench their starters. 

Flames backup quarterback Landon Brown threw an interception which led to Fagnano throwing his second touchdown of the game near the end of the third quarter, and the Black Bears then successfully pulled off a surprise onside kick recovery. Fagnano threw a 43-yard touchdown on the very next play.

“We became content in the second half,” freshman cornerback Kei’Trel Clark said. “Instead of continuing to apply pressure, we let our foot off of the gas. If we would have kept on going and kept on pushing with the same mentality we had in the first half, we would have been fine.”

Freeze put the starters back in to steady the ship, but they showed some rust, and the Black Bears forced a quick three-and-out. They capitalized with another touchdown to cap off a two-minute span where they scored 20 unanswered points, bringing the score to 52-37.

“We lost so many one-on-one matchups, and tackled poorly,” Freeze said. “We also had penalties. I knew we were flat in the locker room before the game, which doesn’t always surprise me. I think it’s impossible for college kids to always be at their peak emotionally for a 12-game season. But you still have to have the mentality to execute, and we just didn’t on defense.” 

However, the Flames responded with a successful touchdown drive on the next possession, giving Calvert his moment to break the passing yards record. This effectively ended the excitement on the night, save for a last-minute touchdown by Maine to make the final score 59-44. Calvert finished the game with 5 touchdowns and 351 passing yards.

“I’m proud of Buckshot,” Freeze said. “He deserves (the record), and it will probably stand for a while. I thought he played pretty dang good in the first half, and he had several drops that could have easily been caught.”

Liberty now begins a tough four-game road stretch, starting with a matchup against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights next Saturday, Oct. 26, where they will look to continue their winning streak. The following games within the four-game road trip will consist of BYU, University of Massachusetts and University of Virginia. The Flames will cap off the season Nov. 30 at home against New Mexico State.