Former hoops player Jones makes impact at tight end

Three years ago, Dominique Jones was a member of Liberty’s basketball team, which made perfect sense considering his father, Zack Jones, was an assistant coach on former head coach Randy Dunton’s staff.

But once Dunton was dismissed, Zack Jones left Liberty to pursue other opportunities. Dominique elected to stay at Liberty, though instead of playing basketball, he chose to walk on to the football team.

Dominique was a key member of the Flames’ scout team the past two seasons, but his chances of making it on the field in meaningful game situations seemed slim. But Dominique continued to work hard, impressed his coaches and earned the nod as the Flames’ No. 3 tight end.

And Saturday against North Carolina Central, Jones caught his first collegiate touchdown pass. His 1-yard reception from Mike Brown gave the Flames a 14-10 edge, Liberty’s first lead of the game.

“I figured I could maybe come on at tight end and help the team out a little bit,” Dominique said. “Last year, I was on the scout team, got a couple of plays here and there. But I was mostly scout team. … Catching a touchdown, that was a great feeling.”

*** Exceeding expectations

Liberty offensive guard Bryan Mosier said before the game that the team had two numerical goals in mind. The Flames wanted to rush for 217 yards and allow no sacks.

Winner on both counts.

First, why 217 yards, a seemingly arbitrary number?

“We figured we had to go for an odd number,” he said. “It’s never an even number. We started off at 210, and we said, ah, screw it, let’s get the quarterback a couple of yards.”

Liberty finished with 231 rush yards (yes, an odd number), and NCCU didn’t wrestle any Liberty quarterbacks to the ground.

*** Beecher injury

On Liberty’s second series Saturday, starting quarterback Tommy Beecher hit the turf hard. He absorbed plenty of hits last week at West Virginia and bounced back up. Though he got up from this one, it was the last one he would take all night.

Liberty athletics trainer Chris Casola told Flames coach Danny Rocco that the woozy Beecher wouldn’t be able to play. Rocco said he doesn’t know the extend of Beecher’s injuries, but at halftime, Beecher was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital for a CT scan.

“His status is a little bit unknown at the moment,” Rocco said. “Fortunately, we had Michael Brown ready to go, and Michael was able to make just enough big plays for us to be able to win the game.”

*** Summers rebound

Liberty receiver Chris Summers dropped one pass early Saturday, but admittedly, the pass had a heck of a degree of difficulty. Mike Brown threaded the ball inside just as Summers was slanting inside, and the ball and an NCCU defender met Summers at the same time.

Brown told Summers not to worry about it.

“I told him, ‘we’re going to need you, and we will be coming back to you,’” Brown said. “It’s not about the last play, it’s all about the next play.”

On 3rd-and-6 from the NCCU 36 in the third quarter, Brown noticed a mismatch on the right side, with Summers in man-to-man coverage with a smaller Eagles corner. Summers beat his man, and Brown hit Summers for a 32-yard gain, helping to set up Jones’ TD reception.

*** Extra points

Two Liberty freshmen scored their first collegiate touchdowns Saturday -- Aldreakis Allen on a 1-yard run and SirChauncey Holloway on a 4-yard run. … Doncel Bolt led the Flames with 10 tackles and forced a fumble. … Daryl Robertson had six tackles, two sacks, 2 ½ tackles for loss, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and had two QB hurries.

-- Chris Lang