Class 3A roundup Liberty "D" cuts down Timberline's late rally

LACEY — The Liberty Patriots defense bent and bent and bent ... but did not break.

The visiting Patriots held off a late comeback by the Timberline Blazers and won a first-round Class 3A playoff game 28-27 Friday night at South Sound Stadium.

Timberline (9-2) scored with 3:11 remaining on a 23-yard run by Aaron Pentland, and elected to go for the two-point conversion. But the Blazers fumbled the snap, and Liberty retained the lead.

The Blazers from Lacey recovered a fumble on Liberty's next play, but that drive stopped when lineman Robbie Marlow picked off Jones' pass and returned it to the 45.

Timberline pounded the ball all night against Liberty, but the defense held as the Blazers came back from a 21-7 deficit midway through the second quarter.

"Timberline took it to us," Liberty coach Steve Valach said. "No one moved the ball on the ground like that on us except Bellevue. But our defense did a good job."

The Blazers had one last drive in the final seconds, but Justin Ludwig intercepted Jones' pass as time expired.

Liberty (8-3) of Issaquah advances to a second-round playoff against the winner of today's East Valley of Spokane and Ferndale game.

Deon Horne led Liberty on the ground with 302 yards on 28 carries, scoring two touchdowns. But he scored a third on a 30-yard interception return to tie the score at 21-21 in the third quarter. The defensive highlight jump-started the Patriots in the second half.

"He did it on offense and defense," Valach said of Horne. "A kid like that who carries the ball and gets hit hard, then plays the defense the way he did, he's just amazing."

Other game

Lakes 20, at Camas 3

The fourth-ranked Lancers (11-0) from Lakewood built a 14-0 lead and then turned the game over to their defense, defeating the seventh-ranked Papermakers (10-1) in a matchup of unbeaten Class 3A teams.

Craig Garner opened the scoring with a 6-yard run on the Lancers' second possession of the game, then ran 52 yards to set up a 7-yard TD pass from Nick Williams to Kavario Middleton.

After that, it was up to the Lancers' defense.

The Papermakers could muster only a 37-yard third-quarter field goal by Nick Cooper. Camas finished with 147 yards of total offense.

"They were the fastest defense we've played all year," Camas receiver Jeff Rice said.

The Columbian of Vancouver contributed to this report.