By Jimmy Kirby
Courier Sports

jkirby@thepccourier.com

GREENVILLE — Wild things seem to happen when Carolina and Liberty get together[cointent_lockedcontent] to play football, and Friday night was no exception as the Red Devils used three big plays from Cole Murphy to come away with a 37-12 season-ending victory over the Trojans.

Call it a pre-Halloween trick or treat or both teams trying too hard

to gain a victory to end a season filled with more losses than wins, and you come up with a concoction of ingredients to make you shake your head in disbelief.

The Red Devils jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead thanks in part to Murphy’s 10-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter and his 90-yard fumble return for a touchdown midway through the second quarter.

In between Murphy’s two scores, Charlie Meinders scored on a three-yard run following a 27-yard Brayden Shirley interception return to the Trojan 16-yard line.

The Trojans couldn’t get out of their own way all night, as they had six turnovers — five coming by way of interceptions — and 15 penalties for 176 yards. The Trojans managed to get their passing game in gear in the third quarter, but it was too little too late as they could not overcome the miscues.

Marcus Grant connected with Devante Rabb for a 13-yard scoring toss with 8:15 remaining in the third quarter and then found Tyler Turner down the right side from 20 yards out as the speedster showed some nifty moves to scamper into the end zone.

But that was all the scoring the Trojans could muster on the evening.

The Red Devils quickly scored again with less than a minute gone in the third quarter when Andrew Herman sacked Turner in the end zone for a safety to make the score 23-0 with 11:19 still on the clock to start the second half.

Murphy then struck again as he took the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to the house, and the Red Devils were up 30-0 eight seconds later.

The final score of the game came on Tyler Renaud’s eight- yard run. Renaud also had a 27-yard run that was good to the Carolina 12-yard line to set up the score. The drive covered 44 yards in four plays.

The Red Devils had their own issues in the game despite the lopsided score, as they had two interceptions, a fumble, a missed field goal and turned the ball over on downs four times deep in Trojan territory at the Carolina 10-, 26-, 1- and 6-yard lines.

Liberty again had to rely on its rushing game, which netted 220 yards on 52 attempts. Renaud led all rushers in the game with 16 carries for 95 yards.

The Red Devils were just 2-of-9 passing for four yards in the game. Their first pass on a jet sweep went for negative-8 yards. The other completion was for 12 yards to Derek Richmond.

The Trojans finished the game with 145 yards through the air and just 47 yards rushing. The turnovers and the penalties kept them bottled up deep in their own territory for most of the game. The average starting field position for the Trojans was their own 25-yard line for the game.

The Red Devils, meanwhile, had an average starting field position at the Carolina 37-yard line.

With the win, the Red Devils completed the season with a 3-7 overall record and 2-5 region record. Carolina fell to 1-9 on the season, with its lone victory coming in region play on the road against Landrum, 21-14.

The Red Devils will now pack it up for the year and try to figure out a way to become more balanced on offense in the offseason. They played well enough defensively throughout the year, giving up just 21.3 points per game. They had six games where they gave up 19 points or less, but also had five games where the offense managed seven points or less. The Red Devils averaged just 13.4 points per game on the season.

Liberty coach Kyle Stewart had to depend too much on his rushing game and defense throughout the season to overcome the lack of a passing attack. Better things should be in store for this group as they prepare for next season.

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