Liberty gets big score late for win over Olathe East in a Sunflower-Suburban Showdown game

It was a back and forth battle between Liberty and Olathe East in another Sunflower-Suburban Showdown.

The difference was the Blue Jays making one more big play down the stretch. Thomas Henrichs hit Drew Mackie for a 37-yard touchdown pass with 5 minutes left in the game, and Liberty beat Olathe East 21-14. The win moves Liberty to 5-0 on the season.

“The safety came down, and the corner bit on the that (fake) and Mackie was right behind it wide open,” Henrichs said of the winning play.

Liberty’s other big moment on Friday was a shifty running play by star running back Robert Rawie. He broke a 99-yard run on the second play from scrimmage, sprinting past the Hawks defense. Rawie ended up with 255 total yards for the game.

Having a reliable runner like Rawie is a major reason why Liberty will be in contention in the Suburban Red.

“He’s the ultimate team player,” Liberty coach Chad Frigon said of Rawie. “When things aren’t going well he doesn’t hang his head one bit. He’s just there for the other ten guys.”

Olathe East settled down on the defensive end after a few big plays and managed to hold the Blue Jays offensive attack in check. Olathe East’s ground game controlled the tempo and helped Olathe East build a 14-13 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Liberty, though, made a few more plays and Olathe East couldn’t hold the lead in the end. The loss drops Olathe East to 1-2.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Olathe East coach Jesse Owen said. “They’re playing hard, and we’re trying to establish that.” Our goal was to try to ugly the game up and have an opportunity at the end to win it. We gave ourselves that opportunity. We just fell short on a few plays.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Liberty gets big score late for win over Olathe East in a Sunflower-Suburban Showdown game."