Box Score LEXINGTON, Va. - VMI's bid for victory again fell short in the 2006 season finale as Liberty posted a 38-32 win over the Keydets before 6,177 Foster Stadium specatators Saturday afternoon.
The setback extended VMI's string of close losses in league play as the Keydets finshed the conference schedule by dropping four Big South games by a combined 19 points.
Liberty (6-5) posted its first winning season since 2004 and its second winning campaign in the last nine years. They also evened the series between the state Big South rivals at 3-3.
The loss spoiled a tremendous rushing day for senior back Sean Mizzer who led all ground gainers with 171 yards and two touchdowns. Mizzer moved past Floyd Allen into second place on the VMI rushing charts with 3,733 yards and finished his final VMI season with 1,022 yards.
Redshirt sophomore running back Rashad Jennings led the Liberty attack with 111 yards and scored a touchdown.
Liberty took the opening kickoff and moved 71 yards in nine plays and took a 7-0 lead on Jennings' two-yard run at the 9:59 mark. Jennings rushed six times for 46 yards on the drive and also caught a pass for 10 yards as the Flames converted three third-down conversions.
LU's Zac Colegue added a 36-yard field goal with 13:36 left in the second quarter to stretch the Liberty lead to 10-0. The drive was set up by a 33-yard punt return by Wynton Jackson to the VMI 42 and the Flames moved inside the VMI four but had to settle for the field goal following a false start penalty and an 11-yard sack on third down by VMI senior defensive end Charlie Liesfeld.
Junior placekicker Barrett Way got VMI on the board with a 31-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10-3 with 8:03 left in the second quarter. The Keydets drive took 5:33 off the clock and moved 66 yards in 11 snaps. It was Way's seventh consecutive made field goal and the drive was aided by Mizzer's 47 yards rushing on four carries and Nat Jackson's two rushed for 20 yards. The drive also saw quarterback Kyle Hughes relieve starter Jonathan Wilson, who left the game with an apparent concussion after a rush on VMI's first drive.
A Brock Smith to Jackson 43-yard catch and run for a touchdown capped a five-play, 70 yard drive to put Liberty ahead 17-3 with 6:12 left in the half. Smith completed three of four passes for 65 yards on the drive. The Flames then pushed the lead to their biggest margin of the day, 24-3, when Pierre Penn scooped up a fumble and raced 43 yards for a touchdown with 4:48 left in the half.
VMI (1-10, 0-4 BSC) responded with scoring drives on its next three possessions to get back into the ballgame. The rally started on the Keydets' last drive of the half when Hughes teamed with sophomore wideout Willie Bell on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 8.9 seconds left that capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive and the score remained 24-9 after the extra point was blocked. A fourth down conversion pass from Hughes to Robinson at the VMI 18 keyed the drive.
The Keydets opened the second half with a bang-using a Chris Gilliand 39-yard kick return to mount a 43-yard, eight-play drive that showcased Mizzer's running. The Prince Frederick, Md. senior rushed six times for 38 yards, the final a 12-yard burst into the endzone to cut the lead to 24-16 following Way's extra point.
VMI forced Liberty to punt on the ensuing possession, and Mizzer rushed 41 yards on the Keydets' next scoring drive, a 10-play, 57-yard possession that featured his second touchdown of the day, a one-yard dive. The Keydets went for two to tie, but a false start penalty and a pass to Mizzer halted at the four-yard line preserved the Flame lead.
The Flames quickly took the wind out of the Keydets sails when Dominac Bolden took the following kickoff 97 yards back for a score, becoming the first VMI opponent since Furman's Lamar Rembert in 2001 to take a kickoff back for a TD. Liberty led 31-22 with 4:02 left in the third.
But the Keydets again cut the deficit to two when red-shirt freshman fullback Derek Smith capped a 15-play, 73-yard drive with a two-yard TD plunge, and Way's extra-point cur the deficit to 31-29 with 12:25 remaining in the quarter. A roughing the passer penalty against Liberty kept the drive alive.
The Flames answered when Zach Terrell's 13-yard quarterback draw to the endzone capped a nine-play 50-yard possession to put the Flames up, 38-29, with 7:17 left as LU chewed up 5:08 of precious time off the fourth quarter clock.
VMI would answer as Way extended his consecutive field goal streak to eight with a 43-yarder at the 2:53 mark, but that would be as close as the Keydets would come as Liberty recovered an onsides kick attempt and got two first downs to wind down the regulation clock.
VMI outgained LU, 381-242 and held a 36:34 to 23:26 advantage in time of possession. Liberty's 242 yards were the fewest allowed by a VMI defense this season. The Flames converted six of 10 third down tries, while the Keydets converted nine of 16.
COACH JIM REID'S QUOTES-
On the season- "I'm really proud of our players, they played really hard all year. In the first couple of games, and a number of them had to make a decision to stay with us and embrace the process of VMI or not. A number of them decided that we were on the right track, and they played really hard and really well. Our players gave us great effort, I think we have a great foundation of attitude that we'll be able to build on. We have freshmen playing, we have injured guys hobbling around. There are not a lot of athletes available to us, our numbers are way down. But for what these guys have been through, their schedule, and the trips, and how they've handled it; I'll just tell you that our staff, our school and our alumni should be extremely proud of them."
On today's game- "Liberty hit us on a couple of big plays. We had them shut down on the first two plays of the game, and then they make a cutback and ran for about 30. Jennings is a very good player for them, as is Lloyd. Our margin is razor-thin; when you give up a special teams touchdown, like we did against Charleston Southern, today we gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, then had a fumbled pitch for a touchdown. You don't expect that, we would have walked away with this game if those things hadn't happened. Our guys came to play today, again."
On Senior Jonathan Wilson leaving the game in the first quarter- "It was amazing. On the first play, he made a great run, and he hit his head. From there, he just couldn't remember any plays. He never blacked out, he didn't have a headache, no nausea, but I guess it was a concussion. He came over and said, 'Coach, I can't remember the plays.' I asked him if his arm was okay after the 4th and 1 play, and they weren't really even covering (the receiver), and he said yes. He just couldn't remember the plays, and we took him over to the doctor, who said that he must have gotten hit in the head."
On Wilson's senior year- "Jonathan bought into our system hook, line and sinker. He's a remarkable player. We tried to take advantage of his abilities, with passes but we couldn't protect him. When we gave him some time, our guys couldn't shake free. We sat in this room 100 times, and talked about how we have a special player, and everybody tried their hardest to come up with ways to make it happen with him."
