{"id":441139,"date":"2026-09-19T15:14:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T15:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/441139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T15:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T15:14:53","slug":"lubbock-cooper-liberty-patriots-put-together-late-rally-to-stun-west-plains-in-non-district-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/441139\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubbock-Cooper Liberty Patriots put together late rally to stun West Plains in non-district showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"White-teamLubbock-Cooper Liberty\u2019s Kaiden Joseph dives over the top trying to score against West Plains during a non-district game Friday afternoon at Happy State Bank Stadium. [Roy Wheeler\/ Press Pass Sports]<\/p>\n

It seemed readily apparent Friday afternoon at Happy State Bank Stadium that West Plains and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty are two teams which will still be playing after the regular season ends come November.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what made this game between two Class 4A teams who won\u2019t meet again that much more bittersweet \u2013 yet entertaining.<\/p>\n

In a non-district game which lived up to the hype, it came down to the final minute, as Liberty scored a touchdown with 46 seconds left and opted to play for the win with a 2-point conversion attempt. The gamble paid off, as Cy Leach hit Koleman Hendrix on successful pass which gave the Patriots a thrilling 29-28 victory and kept them unbeaten on the season at 4-0.<\/p>\n

That cliche about how it was a shame either team had to lose rang especially true in a rare afternoon game that should have had a prime time spotlight. The two teams jostled for position all afternoon before Liberty finally reigned at the end.<\/p>\n

If anybody needs a blueprint on how to start a successful high school football program, they could do worse than watch a film of the game between third-year Liberty and fifth-year West Plains (2-2).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible how in four years how playing a teams like West Plains is just so good,\u201d Liberty coach Joe Sexton said. \u201cThey\u2019re good across the board. They\u2019ve got awesome coaches and it was a great win on the road for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FootballWest Plains running back Slade Russell ran for 2026 yards against Liberty on Friday afternoon. [Roy Wheeler\/ Press Pass Sports]<\/p>\n

West Plains had taken a 28-21 lead with 5:29 left in the game on a 20-yard scoring run by Nate Alvarez on a reverse. That ended a drive where the Wolves, as would figure, were carried by senior running back Slade Russell, who began the season with his fourth straight 200-yard game, going forn 206 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.<\/p>\n

That might have been enough against another opponent. The two teams were almost dead even statistically, but for the second time this season, the Wolves were left wondering what might have been.<\/p>\n

Combined with 42-35 loss to Class 3A power Wall in the season opener, West Plains has been within a score of two more impressive wins this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super proud of the guys and I\u2019m super proud of the fight,\u201d West Plains coach Jeff Lofton said. \u201cWe did a lot of things right, but it boils down to mistakes made and you can\u2019t have those. We\u2019ll correct everything and it will be a positive. (Liberty\u2019s) a quality deep playoff run type team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FootballLiberty tight end Koleman Hendrix stiff arms a West Plains defender Friday afternoon. [Roy Wheeler\/ Press Pass Sports]<\/p>\n

The Patriots proved that on what would be their game-winning drive. They opened at their own 28-yard line, but benefited from a personal foul penalty for a late hit on quarterback Cy Leach which moved the ball up 15 yards.<\/p>\n

Liberty moved the ball to the West Plains 31 and faced a fourth-and-four with just over a minute left and a do or die play to keep the game alive. The Patriots did it, as Leach hit JJ Thompson for a 30-yard gain to give them a first and goal at the West Plains 1.<\/p>\n

Talon Wilcox ran it in on the next play to make it 28-27, and the Patriots didn\u2019t even call timeout to decide about running a 2-point play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work on those 2-point plays all the time in practice,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want (the Wolves) to have the ball again to tell you the truth. We were going to try to end that thing right there. I\u2019ve just got all the faith in the world in our guys so we decided to go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leach and Hendrix made the decision pay off. On a rollout to the left, Leach found an open Hendrix for what proved to be the winning points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew what the coverage was going to be an who was going to be there,\u201d said Leach, who threw for 246 yards and a touchdown. \u201cIt\u2019s just digging deep and seeing what we\u2019re made of. We practice those situations all the time and it came into play. It gives us so much confidence to beat a great team like West Plains, it\u2019s like a playoff game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LibertyLiberty quarterback Cy Leach threw for 246 yards with two touchdown passes against West Plains. [Roy Wheeler\/ Press Pass Sports]<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t quite over with yet, though. The Wolves got the ball back and with three second left they got the ball to the Liberty 44 and had a choice.<\/p>\n

They opted to have Gipson Gnagy try a 62-yard field goal with the wind at his back, and while the kick was online it fell several yards short, preserving the win for the Patriots.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur non-district schedule there\u2019s no easy games,\u201d Lofton said. \u201cYou want to be tested. As long as you\u2019re healthy you can have a nondistrict schedule like this. Once you go into district you\u2019ve seen almost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty took the opening kickoff and drove inside the West Plains 20-yard line, but West Plains defensive tackle Kylan Akins sacked Cy Leach and forced a fumble which was recovered by Uriah Cruz. The Wolves then drove into Liberty territory and the Patriots returned the favor when Rylan Thomas forced a fumble on a sack of Timber Russell and Braxton Bitar recovered.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until midway through the second quarter that anybody cashed in on a drive into enemy territory. Taking advantage of a targeting penalty, the Patriots capped a drive on a 1-yard scoring run by Kaiden Joseph for a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Liberty then forced the first punt of the day by West Plains and took over in good field position. Two plays later, Leach hit a wide open Jamison Gonzalez on a 60-yard scoring pass where the nearest defender seemed to be in Potter County to boost the lead to 14-0.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where West Plains passed a character test.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo scratch from 14 against a team like this is super encouraging,\u201d Lofton said. \u201cWe responded after one of our best dudes got ejected for targeting. Those guys rallied and it was next man up. It doesn\u2019t matter who goes down we\u2019ve got to fight, and we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took only 18 seconds for West Plains to make a game of it. On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Russell took a handoff, found a hole in the left side and sprinted 82 yards past the Liberty defense for a score to cut it to 14-7.<\/p>\n

The Wolves defense came out inspired and forced a three-and-out on Liberty\u2019s next possession. Timber Russell hit Kelby Williams for a 33-yard gain, eventually setting up Paxton Chandler\u2019s 5-yard touchdown run to tie it at 14 with 1:07 left in the half.<\/p>\n

Liberty put together a good drive and with three seconds left, the Patriots were in position to take the halftime lead on a 29-yard field goal attempt by Randen Schlumpf. However, Akins capped a huge first half by blocking the kick to keep the score tied heading into the locker room.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty<\/p>\n

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\"Wolves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lubbock-Cooper Liberty\u2019s Kaiden Joseph dives over the top trying to score against West Plains during a non-district game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-441139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}