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Liberty improves to 9-1 with 45-0 Senior Day win over UMass

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Malik Willis drops back to pass in the Flames’ 45-0 win over UMass. Photo courtesy Liberty Athletics.

Liberty closed out a perfect home slate with a 45-0 shutout victory over UMass on Friday at Williams Stadium.

The Flames (9-1) pushed their home winning streak to a program-record-tying 11 games, going a perfect 6-0 at Williams Stadium this season.

Liberty joins BYU (9-0) as the first two FBS programs to reach nine wins this season.

UMass falls to 0-4 on the campaign.

Liberty posted its first shutout over an FBS program, and first shutout since blanking Presbyterian 16-0 on Nov. 5, 2016.

Two weeks after posting a season-high 633 total yards, Liberty totaled 629 yards today on a season-high 378 yards rushing and 251 yards passing.

For the game, Liberty outgained the Minutemen 629-227 overall.

After yielding 70 total points in back-to-back wins over Southern Miss (56-35) and Virginia Tech (38-35), Liberty has outscored opponents 117-29 in the last three games.

For the third time this season, Liberty had two 100-yard rushers. Peytton Pickett rushed for 125 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown, while Joshua Mack carried the ball 11 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Troy Henderson rushed for a season-high 79 yards on 15 carries. Malik Willis went 16-for-24 with 223 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 63 yards and a touchdown.

UMass quarterback Garrett Dzuro threw for 172 yards on 9-for-22 passing. Samuel Emilus led the Minutemen with 82 yards on four receptions.

Liberty closes out the regular season next Saturday at former Big South rival Coastal Carolina, who is undefeated and currently ranked in all three major polls, including as high as No. 16 in the AP Top 25.

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