Summers lifts Liberty past Lafayette

EASTON, Pa. -- Liberty’s players gathered in a huddle in the east end zone at Fisher Stadium Saturday night, joyously celebrating a 19-13 victory at Lafayette. The huddle broke, and everyone rushed into the locker room. But quarterback Mike Brown hesitated. He turned and looked for Chris Summers, slapping hands with the big receiver and giving him a quick hug.

Brown has long been a fan of Summers, a receiver whose freakish size -- 6-foot-4, 190 pounds -- and athleticism make him a difficult cover, especially at the FCS level, where cornerbacks are smaller and slower. Liberty coach Danny Rocco, too, has been a fan. The tools are all there, he’s repeated several times since practice opened in August. Now the confidence must follow.

Certainly, confidence shouldn’t be an issue any more for Summers, who caught 14 passes -- one shy of the school record -- for 138 yards and a touchdown as the Flames (2-1) built a 16-0 halftime lead and held off a second-half Leopards rally. It wasn’t just the pure numbers, though. It was when Summers made those catches.

Three of those receptions came on third downs, extending drives and keeping Lafayette’s offense on the bench. The final reception, a 15-yard reception on 3rd-and-4 deep in Lafayette territory in the final two minutes, quieted any hopes for a last-second Lafayette comeback.

“Our expectation has been that Chris will play at that level,” Rocco said. “He’s certainly on the rise. He has a wealth of talent, and he’s certainly starting to come into his own.”

Of all of the question marks Liberty faced entering the season, none was bigger than wide receiver. When it became clear before game time that Tommy Beecher (concussion) would not play, that took away the Flames’ best receiving threat -- Brown, since he became the No. 1 quarterback.

Lafayette (1-1) completely shut down Liberty’s inside run game, meaning the short passing attack became the Flames’ offensive focus. Brown shredded the Leopards, completing 29 of 36 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. He only completed two passes longer than 20 yards, but in lieu of a clock-chewing run game, Brown kept the Flames’ offense moving with loads of short passes and quarterback draws and sprint-outs.

Brown finished with 88 yards on 20 carries, but LU’s two tailbacks -- B.J. Hayes and Aldreakis Allen -- combined for 17 yards on 13 carries.

“We did a lot of read option stuff,” Brown said. “And B.J., after the game he had last week, they had to respect both of us. We caught them a couple of times squeezing down on B.J., and that let me get outside a little bit.”

Hayes was a factor in the passing game, catching five balls for 54 yards. So was Freddie Brown (three receptions, 29 yards) and Ervin Garner (three receptions, 20 yards). Thanks to the short passes, LU racked up a 361-286 advantage in total yards and possessed the ball for nearly eight minutes longer than the Leopards.

“They did things that we like to do,” Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. “Like controlling the football. Brown did a great job. Great athlete, very tough to stop. We have everything else shut down, and he’s taking off with it.”

For the first time this season, the Flames led wire to wire. They opened the game in an empty set, trying to catch the Leopards off guard, and it worked, as Brown marched Liberty 60 yards in 12 plays for the game’s first touchdown. The Leopards tried to make a game of it in the second half, but by the time they cut the lead to 19-13 in the fourth quarter, their only hope was to try an onsides kick. Liberty had moved the ball with such efficiency that even with three time outs remaining, Lafayette didn’t want to kick deep for fear that it would never see the ball again.

Which is exactly what happened after Liberty recovered the kick.

For all the talk of how young this team was at the start of the season, it matured in time to secure a road victory against a Patriot League team that beat Liberty in Lynchburg last season.

“Coming up here tonight, failure was not an option,” Rocco said. “Credit to these kids and this coaching staff. They hung in there and found a way to win the football game.”