A big first half sparked the visiting Liberty Flames to a 41-7 win over the VMI Keydets Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference football action in Lexington.
The Flames (5-2, 2-0 Big South) were sparked by Mike Brown’s 283 yards of total offense, including 231 yards and three touchdowns through the air. 120 of those passing yards went to Chris Summers, who also had three touchdown catches in the Liberty win. VMI (2-4, 1-2 Big South) was thwarted in its effort to move to 3-0 at home for the first time since 1990, despite A.J. Gross’ career-high tying 16 tackles.
After an exchange of punts opened the contest, Liberty embarked on a seven-play, 84-yard drive for the game’s first touchdown. No play in the drive went longer than seven yards until the scoring strike, a 54-yard Brown to Summers pass. The Flames tacked on the extra point and were ahead, 7-0.
Another VMI three-and-out gave the visitors the ball on their own 48, and they took advantage of the short field. Brown was 3 for 3 on the drive and also ran for seven yards, but SirChauncey Holloway capped the spurt with a three-yard touchdown run. The point after made it 14-0 Liberty, with 3:30 remaining in the opening quarter.
The score stayed 14-0 after one period, and the second half opened with a 63-yard punt by Liberty’s Mike Larsson. Despite being one of the 10 longest kicks in Big South history, it was only the second-best kick in Foster Stadium this year, trailing Patrick Morgano of Presbyterian College’s 64-yard try.
Liberty got the ball back at the 12:02 mark and struck again. After two eight-yard plays, Brown found Summers in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Summers’ second touchdown catch of the game and the extra point made it 21-0, Liberty.
The ensuing drive saw the Keydets pick up their initial first down of the game, as Adam Morgan found T.J. Talley for a 16-yard completion. Gabe Itoka then had a pair of runs, putting the Keydets in a third-and-short, but a pass went incomplete and forced another VMI punt. The Keydet defense forced a punt as well, but as VMI’s punt returner fielded the ball, he fumbled it at the eight-yard line. Liberty recovered and would convert a 25-yard field goal, giving the Flames a 24-0 lead with four minutes left in the half.
The visitors then wrapped up the second quarter with an eight-play, 56-yard drive that ended with Summers’ third touchdown catch of the game. The 17-yard strike pushed the Liberty lead to 31-0, which would be the score at halftime. The TD reception made Summers the first VMI opponent to have three touchdown catches in one game since 2005, and the 31 points were the most that VMI had surrendered in Foster Stadium since 2007’s season finale against The Citadel.
The Keydets opened the second half with one of their more sustained drives of the day, an eight-play effort. Unfortunately for the home team, it went only for 27 yards and another punt was forced. The teams volleyed punts for several minutes before VMI made a quarterback change, going to Cameron Jones for the first time in the afternoon.
On just his second play, Jones was intercepted by Liberty’s Danny Broggin, setting up a seven-play, 36-yard drive that ended in a six-yard touchdown run. Korrey Davis’ six-yard touchdown run and the point after pushed the Liberty margin to 38-0 with 4:45 left in the third quarter. In fact, that would remain the score at the end of three periods.
Liberty kicker Matt Bevins hit his second field goal of the day, a 42-yarder with 12:30 left, to cap the Liberty scoring and make the score Flames 41, Keydets 0, but VMI countered on its next drive. Freshman Eric Kordenbrock entered the game at quarterback and led his team on a 69-yard drive that took just four plays, on which he went 4 for 4 through the air. A 15-yard pass interference penalty aided the Keydets, and Kordenbrock capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Chaz Jones. Jones avoided three tackles and made a spinning move into the endzone to break the plane, putting the Keydets on the board and ending the game’s scoring, 41-7.
VMI saw Marc Ray set a new career-high in punts with nine, while the Keydets also set a season-high in sacks with five. Liberty’s defense was paced by Danny Broggin, who had three tackles including two stops-for-loss, along with an interception and two sacks.
VMI football will return to action Saturday, Oct. 23, as the Keydets travel to Charleston, S.C. to battle the Charleston Southern Buccaneers. Game time is set for 11:30 a.m.
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