LIBERTY
LIBERTY
Raiders are looking for a playmaker
By Gary Fauber the register-herald
Mark Workman isn’ t trying to sugarcoat a 3-7 season when he talks about how his players competed.
“ I really think we played well at times,” the Liberty head coach said.“ The point I kept trying to get across to our kids was, the year before last we had games in the fourth quarter where( the clock) just ran the whole time when you’ re down 35. Last year we didn’ t have any but one, and that happened late in the fourth quarter against Westside. It was a five-point game with three and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. We had some turnovers there and it just got a little bit out of hand there late in the fourth quarter, and they went up pretty big on us.
“ We weren’ t pleased with the wins and losses. I think we left a couple( wins) out there on the field. But overall, I thought we competed and we played well.”
There was a one-game improvement, from 2-8 to 3-7. The goal is always to keep rising, but the Raiders will have to do so without a pair of key skill players in receiver Riley Marty and utilityman Kris Bowman.
“ Losing Kris and Riley is big for us,” Workman said.“ We’ ve got to find an athlete that can go get it like Riley did. And Kris was our kind of go-to guy. We bounced him around at running back and slot. We bounced him around defensively. So replacing those two guys will be key for us.”
There are candidates. Sophomore Colton Tolliver is back after he tore an ACL is last year’ s season-opener against Poca and missing the rest of the season. There is also Ben Harper, a 6-foot-1 junior, Liam Daniels is out for football from
Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Liberty’ s Issac Williams( 22) runs for yardage during the Raiders’ game against Shady Spring at Shady Spring High School.
the basketball team, junior Teagan Houck and Hodges.
The Raiders will have a young quarterback in sophomore Jaxson Workman. He got experience as a freshman but missed a great deal of time to a broken leg suffered the second game of the season. He returned for the final three games and finished the season completing 38 of 77 passes for 743 yards and seven touchdowns,
“ We expect a lot. He has just grown up,” said Mark Workman, Jaxson’ s dad and coach.“ And he expects a lot out of himself. That’ s just the way he’ s been raised. He still will be a young guy, but he’ s pretty intelligent when it comes to this game.”
Chase Shea or Parker Hodges could serve as the backup.
Senior Isaac Williams returns to lead the ground game. Also getting carries will be Landon Lusk, Noah Ellis and Cameron Acord, but Williams“ will be our workhorse.”
There is ample experience across the offensive line, even with the losses of starter Antonio Bartoli to go along with Justin Shrewsbury. Senior Connor Acord is a three-year starter, and junior Alex Jarrell a two-year starter. Junior Logan Ellis started all 10 games at center last year. Stepping in could be Walker Smith and Jacob Akers.
Most of the players will have to play both sides, including Connor Acord, Akers, Jarrell and Lusk on the defensive line. Among the linebackers could be Jay Acord, Williams, Smith, Noah Ellis and Trenton
Clay. In the secondary will be Daniels and Hodges at the corners and Tolliver, Houck and Logan Ellis at safeties.
The Raiders have two new opponents on the schedule— Doddridge County in the season opener Aug. 29 and Greenbrier West Sept. 12. Both games will be played at home.
2025 SCHEDULE
Aug. 29 Sept. 5 Sept. 12 Sept. 19 Sept. 26 Oct. 3 Oct. 10 Oct. 17 Oct. 24 Nov. 1 Nov. 7
Doddridge County PikeView
Greenbrier West
James Monroe at Buffalo at Westside
Shady Spring
Open at Midland Trail Summers County at Wyoming East
SOUTHERN W. VA. GAME NIGHT- AUGUST 2025 • 13