GRAFTON -- As expected, the winless Liberty Mountaineers were no match for the Grafton Bearcats here on McKinney Field last Friday night during a Big Ten Conference high school football confrontation.

This contest featured the Bearcats running over the Mountaineers to the tune of 352 yards and six touchdowns on 50 carries for an average of just over seven yards-per-carry.

However, the arm of Liberty quarterback Shay Noss allowed the Mountaineers to enjoy some success in this contest.

Noss, who scrambled for 28 of Liberty’s 45-yards rushing, completed 16-of-29 passes for 239-yards passing and all three of the touchdowns for the Mountaineers.

The senior signal-caller hit Tyler Pumphrey for one six-point play from 12-yards out in the first quarter.

Noss also connected with Jimmy Pumphrey for the final two touchdowns of the ball game. Those two scores came against some back-up Bearcats, covering 67 yards on a pass-and-run play and 26 yards.

For Grafton, senior running back Mike Richards racked up a game-high total of 162-yards rushing on the night, pushing him well over the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Richards scored twice on runs of two yards and five yards, while his backfield mate, senior quarterback Markus Griffin chipped in with 67 yards and three touchdown runs, covering one yard, 13 yards and 24 yards, respectively.

Steve Hunt scored Grafton’s other touchdown on a counter play, plus freshmen Ivy Bartlett (nine carries for 55 yards) and Blake Burnett (ten carries for 43 yards) made their varsity debuts for the Blue & Gold.

Liberty fumbled the opening kick-off and the Bearcats fell on the loose football, setting the Grafton offense up on Liberty’s 29-yard line.

Six plays later, Griffin snuck into the end zone, and Tristan Reneau kicked the extra point to give the home team a 7-0 lead.

The Bearcats never trailed, and the Mountaineers did not even up the score, either.

Liberty did have a great opportunity to gain some of the momentum back just before the half-time intermission, with a first-and-goal situation at Grafton’s five-yard line, but Bearcat defensive end Jeremiah Deem chased down Noss and sacked him for a 14-yard loss, with the clock running out on that play.

Liberty wound up with an 0-10 season, while running their string of consecutive losses up to 15 in a row, heading into the 2010 campaign, next August.

Grafton, after improving to 4-5 on the season with this victory, will entertain the undefeated Magnolia Blue Eagles back here on McKinney Field on Friday, November 6.

For the complete article see the 11-02-2009 issue.

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