By Chris Raimondi, Sports Editor
Liberty quarterback Josh Woodrum guaranteed the Flames would win all of their remaining games prior to facing Kennesaw State Saturday night, and so far his team is 1-for-1.
The Owls had no answers for Woodrum as he threw for 230 yards and four touchdowns to lead Liberty to a 45-35 win before 20,393 fans at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“They did good offensively and got to a point where we couldn’t stop them,” KSU head coach Brian Bohannon said. “If we could have got one stop, I feel like we could have got back in it in the second half, but we couldn’t get a shot.”
Already leading 24-7 after two quarters, Liberty (4-4, 1-2) scored on all three of its drives in the second half.
KSU (5-2, 1-1) also scored on all four of its possessions in the final 30 minutes, but never could overcome the 17 point deficit conceded in the first half.
Quarterback Trey White engineered the Owls’ offense with 94 yards rushing, 71 passing and four total touchdowns, including a 12-yard pass to backup quarterback and running back Jake McKenzie on KSU’s opening drive of the third quarter.
McKenzie later threw a touchdown pass to Xavier Harper in the fourth quarter.
After kicker Justin Thompson accounted for all of KSU’s offense against Gardner-Webb last week, the Owls scored five total touchdowns, three rushing and two through the air. Trey Chivers was the game’s leading rusher with 97 yards and had a long of 36.
The Owls took the initial lead by compiling a 13-play, 76-yard opening drive which White capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run. Liberty then rattled off 24 unanswered points before the half.
KSU made it a 10-point game on three occasions in the second half, but self-imposed mistakes plagued the Owls’ chance of a comeback. Kennesaw committed 11 penalties for 105 yards, including nine offside calls.
“We beat ourselves a lot tonight,” Bohannon said. “I give Liberty a lot of credit. They’re a good football team. We had 11 penalties for over 100 yards. You can’t go beat the defending Big South Conference champion with 11 penalties. We’ve got to do a better job of that.”
KSU faces a tough challenge through the remainder of Big South play. The Owls’ remaining opponents boast a 17-12 record and present more experience than the youthful Kennesaw roster, something Bohannon referenced after the loss to Liberty.
“I’m proud about the way our guys fought tonight,” Bohannon said. “I mean you’re talking about a team coming in with maybe half the amount of scholarships and our guys went toe-to-toe and fought pretty hard tonight. There is no quit in our football team.”
The Flames are back in the win column after dropping two consecutive road conference games to Gardner-Webb and Monmouth, which knocked them out of the top-25. KSU is now 1-1 in the conference and hosts Monmouth Saturday at 1 p.m. in Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
