Liberty notes: Brown takes over for Beecher at QB

EASTON, Pa. -- Liberty’s coaching staff engaged in a bit of gamesmanship before Saturday’s game at Lafayette. All three quarterbacks -- Tommy Beecher, Mike Brown and Tyler Brennan -- warmed up on the field. Beecher took some snaps with the first time. Brown worked at receiver and punt returner. The goal was simple: Liberty wanted to confuse the Lafayette coaching staff by not giving a hint to who would start the game at quarterback.

The decision had been made by Thursday, though, Liberty coach Danny Rocco said. Beecher, who suffered a mild concussion last Saturday against North Carolina Central, wasn’t cleared to practice fully until Wednesday, and even as late as Friday, he was still dealing with minor headaches. For his own safety, he was held out of the game.

Brown made the most of his first start at quarterback for Liberty, completing 29 of 36 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 88 yards on 20 carries.

LC coach Frank Tavani shrugged off any thought that the quarterback mystery played a role in Saturday’s game.

“Not really,” he said. “They run the same offense. They have a better athlete back there. If he’s out at receiver and doing other things, then he’s not handling the ball every time. We didn’t really talk about who was at quarterback. We had to defend their offense.”

Beecher said after the game that he was feeling close to 100 percent. He had two “episodes” when he played at South Carolina, which were not diagnosed as concussions, but just blows to the head.

Beecher was impressed with Brown’s play.

“Mike was great,” Beecher said. “He executed and made plays out there. When the backup quarterback goes in there, you don’t want to miss a beat, and we didn’t.”

Some good, some bad

Liberty’s special teams made two big plays, twice pinning the Leopards inside their own five on punts. One of those punts helped Liberty get great field position, and it set up the Flames’ second touchdown.

On the flip side, Liberty had an extra point and a short field goal blocked, inexcusable mistakes, Rocco said.

“That’s bad,” he said. “That’s bad football. That can’t happen. That happens to bad teams. That disappointed me.”

Vargas hurt

In the second half, right tackle Justin Vargas left the game with an injured right ankle. The ankle was splinted and he was on crutches late in the game.

Rocco didn’t have a definitive word on Vargas’ injury, but said, “I don’t feel real good” about it.

Soeren Wendland took Vargas’ place.

JMU next

After the game in the locker room, Rocco pulled off the sweatshirt he was wearing to reveal a purple t-shirt adorned with the words: “Beat JMU.”

The Flames will host the Dukes next week at Williams Stadium, in what should easily be the highest attended game in Liberty football history.

“We kind of got a feel for that at West Virginia, playing in front of 60,000,” Liberty linebacker Wes Cheek said. “But it’s different when it’s your home field. You’re not used to seeing the home field packed out like that, and we’re not used to having a lot of fans from the other side either. I think it’s going to create an awesome atmosphere, and I think we’re going to feed off that. It’s just going to be an exciting day.”

Extra points

Liberty held an opponent to less than 300 yards of total offense for a second straight game. In the opener, West Virginia amassed 299 yards of offense before halftime. … Cheek led Liberty with seven tackles and forced the game’s only turnover, intercepting a Rob Curley pass in the second half. … Linebacker Mark Leggiero, the Patriot League preseason defensive player of the year, led the Leopards with 15 tackles. … Liberty linebacker Doncel Bolt stuffed a fourth-quarter Lafayette drive, coming up with a seven-yard sack on third down.

-- Chris Lang