Desert Oasis stuffed Liberty running back Ezra Sanelivi for no gain on the Patriots’ first play from scrimmage on Thursday night.
Things pretty much went Liberty’s way the rest of the game.
Madden Delacruz passed for 230 yards and two touchdowns, and the Patriots added a pair of defensive scores en route to a 42-0 drubbing of the host Diamondbacks.
“I feel like we moved the ball great,” Delacruz said. “We’ve been progressing since the first week, especially with our passing game. I felt like we had to get better with that.
“Our run game is always going to be there. We have a great running back, and I feel like our pass game has gotten better over the weeks.”
Delacruz was extremely efficient, completing 12 of 14 passes for second-ranked Liberty (2-2, 1-0 Division I East). One of the two incompletions was a drop.
“I’m really impressed with him,” Liberty coach Rich Muraco said of his junior quarterback. “Playing some of those really tough teams early in the season has helped him learn.
“The game’s starting to slow down for him. He’s making the right reads, and he’s a super smart kid, a 4.0 (GPA) type kid. So we’re excited to see where he can go this year.”
After the no gain on the game’s first offensive play, Delacruz completed three consecutive passes to move the ball to the Desert Oasis 3-yard line, and Sanelivi capped the drive with a 3-yard scoring run to make it 7-0 with 9:43 to go in the first quarter.
The Patriots had no trouble moving the ball on their next possession, driving 81 yards on six plays capped by a 28-yard scoring pass from Delacruz to Kainalu Hosaka, as the Patriots took a 14-0 lead with 2:29 left in the opening quarter.
Liberty took advantage of a short field on its next possession, driving 50 yards capped by a 1-yard TD run by defensive lineman turned fullback Tafatoluomalua Atualevao that made it 21-0 with 8:45 to go in the half.
Delacruz spread the ball around, hitting five receivers, four of whom had multiple catches.
“We don’t necessarily have any amazing (NCAA Division I) receivers , but we just have a solid team where everybody can contribute and everybody’s a threat, and it makes it real hard to cover it,” Muraco said.
While Delacruz was leading an efficient offense, Liberty’s defense was making things awfully difficult for Desert Oasis (2-2, 0-1). The Patriots had sacks on three consecutive snaps at one point in the first half, and Rysen-James Dacosin-Arcala’s 20-yard interception return for a TD made it 28-0 with 6:31 left in the second quarter.
“I knew coming into this year, the strength of our team was going to be our defense,” Muraco said. “We have eight starters, basically coming back from last year’s team, which was really good.”
Delacruz capped the first-half scoring with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Champion-James Ualesi that made it 35-0 and triggered the running clock with 2:00 remaining in the first half.
Delacruz didn’t take a snap after halftime, and Liberty’s offense didn’t get much going in the second half, but by that time the game was decided.
Aidan Webster picked off a shovel pass from Desert Oasis’ backup quarterback Drayden Arreola and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown with 8:39 to go in the third quarter to close out the scoring.
Webster added a sack, and Johnathan Ioane had two sacks and a tackle for loss for the Patriots, who sacked Desert Oasis quarterbacks six times.
