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Photo Credit: David Smith/Special to PrepsKC

Complete Box Score and Stats

COLUMBIA — Turnovers were the story of the Class 6 finals from the start – when Liberty North’s Matthew Hutson picked off a pass on the third play of the game.

That was the first of seven total turnovers in the title game but the only one for Christian Brothers College. The No. 1-ranked team took advantage of six turnovers by No. 2-ranked Liberty North and rolled to a 48-21 victory on Friday on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.

The rare No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the finals was close for a while — 14-7 — but the Cadets rattled off 24 straight points to pull away and did so off Liberty North miscues.

All told, the CBC scored 31 of its 48 points off Liberty North turnovers.

“When you turn the ball over as many times as we did … I think we had more turnovers today than we did all season,” Liberty North coach Greg Jones said. “It is uncharacteristic of us.”

The Eagles (11-2) entered the championship game with only seven turnovers all season — six interceptions between two quarterbacks and only one fumble lost.

Liberty North had a chance to take an early lead but missed a 46-yard field goal attempt after getting the turnover to open the contest. Jeff Morgan had a pass breakup on a throw to tight end Justis Braden inside the 10-yard line on third down.

“Normally anytime we get a turnover, we have been known to capitalize on it,” Jones said. “Credit to them we weren’t able to do that.”

CBC (13-1) got on the board only five plays after the missed field goal when running back Jeremiyah Love scored on a 62-yard run off right tackle. Three plays after that, CBC’s offense was back on the field after Kendall Hutson batted a pass from Sam Van Dyne in the air, grabbed it and ran back to the Liberty North 10-yard line. CBC quarterback Patrick Heitert hit Ayden Robinson-Wayne for an 8-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 only 1 1/2 minute after the initial score.

The Eagles’ first scoring drive followed to trim the deficit in half. Micah Jo Barnett ran for 30 yards on the drive and Van Dyne completed two passes, one to Keelan Smith for a first down that moved the ball into CBC territory. His second was a 36-yard pass to Freddie Lavan III for a touchdown with 3:16 left in the first quarter.

Momentum then seemed to perhaps shifted to the Eagles after defensive lineman Darius Pahmahmie sacked Heitert on third down to forced 4th-and-21 situation that led to a punt but the Eagles had a quick three-and-out.

The next possession for Liberty North ended with a 55-yard interception for a score by Justus Johnson, who caught Van Dyne’s pass on a wheel route play near the North sideline and dashed to the end zone.

Van Dyne’s next pass was intercepted on the following drive by Tyler Gant at the 10-yard line. CBC got a 30-yard field goal from Josh Kacich out of that turnover. Gant, like Hutson did, batted the ball in the air and then grabbed the ball.

Then, things got even worse for the Eagles on the next drive, though it started promising with a 37-yard run by Cayden Arzola. At the 32-yard line of CBC, a high snap bounced over Van Dyne and Jaycob Tatum picked it up for CBC at the 42-yard line.

Six plays later, that turnover turned into points on another touchdown run by Love, making it 31-7, which was the halftime score.

The first play of the second half for the Eagles was a fumble on a run attempt and Michael Teason picked it up in the air and ran it back 37 yards for a touchdown to push the advantage to 38-7, near turbo clock territory.

“We really beat ourselves, not much more you can say,” said Van Dyne, who was 5-for-19 passing for 105 yards. “We didn’t play our best football.”

The best stretch of the game for the Eagles came when they scored on the next two possessions – sandwiched between another field goal by CBC.

An 88-yard, nine-play drive for the Eagles featured 19-yard runs by Van Dyne and Arzola. A pass interference call moved the ball to the 8-yard line and Arzola scored on the next play. The senior running back ran for 150 yards on 24 carries.

Van Dyne hit Lavan III for a 26-yard pass on the first play on the ensuing drive to get inside the red zone. Barnett capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds left in the third.

Heitert capped the scoring with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Dakotah Mayo in the fourth quarter.

“It was a tough fought game, no lead ever felt safe,” CBC coach Scott Pingel said. “I knew our defense played really well; I’m excited how it turned out. We talk about defenses winning championships. I didn’t know it was six (turnovers) but I knew we had a couple of returns into the 10 (yard-line) and anytime you can do that, it is a momentum killer.”

The stat sheet portrays a game that was perhaps closer than the scoreboard showed. CBC had 17 first downs, two more than Liberty North. In terms of yardage, CBC held a 367 to 308 advantage. Liberty North controlled time of possession the first two quarters, while CBC did the final two quarters. Both teams’ third-down conversion rate was close with Liberty North holding a 45 percent to 40 percent advantage.

But the 31 to 0 in points off turnovers was the backbreaker that stopped Liberty North’s 11-game winning streak.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” Jones said. “Obviously you go out and play 48 minutes and everything is judged on it. It doesn’t show all the hard word work they have put in since January to get here. I know we are disappointed in how we played today, but I wouldn’t want to play with any other team then this time right here.

“There is no tomorrow for these seniors and for the underclassmen there is none for a while. There is not a lot you can say. Just appreciate the heck out of them and love them to death. Today wasn’t our day.”