Injury-hampered Patriots close with loss

FAYETTEVILLE -- Liberty Middle wrapped up its season Tuesday night with an 18-6 loss at Riverside Christian Academy.

The Patriots (2-6) were missing their leading scorer and rusher, Tunde Onakoya, who was out with a hand injury.

The first 15 seconds of the game seemed to set the trend for the evening. The Knights ran in a touchdown from 68 yards out but penalty flags negated the feat. However, they corrected their mistakes and went back to work with another trip to the end zone with 4:54 to go in the first quarter.

Only ticks later, RCA took advantage of an interception and short field. They doubled their lead with 3:08 remaining in the opening period.

David Delrio helped swing momentum toward the Pats in the second quarter. After a few first downs, Delrio scored with 49 seconds left in the half to make it 12-6.

The turnover bug came back to bite Liberty later in the second half. Another interception gave the hosts the ball at their own 32. With 4:59 left in the game, they scored the final points of the night. A penalty gave RCA two attempts at a two-point conversion, but the Pats were able to hold firm.

The Knights went on to dominate the turnover battle as they came down with another interception to seal their win.

Help is on the way, Liberty coach Jimmy Darden said. Future Patriots will have much more experience due to participating in their own youth football league.