Liberty readies for new football season

Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune Liberty’s Wyatt Roth makes a catch during Friday’s scrimmage against Coalinga.

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COALINGA — With a chance to hit someone other than your teammate for the first time all season, the Liberty Hawks football team didn’t come out with the intensity head coach Mike Nolte may have wanted in Friday’s scrimmage against the Coalinga Horned Toads.

The Horned Toads dominated the first part of the scrimmage, scoring three touchdowns against Liberty’s first-team defense.

“The intensity didn’t pick up until the very end,” Nolte said “I would have liked to have seen us sustain a little more enthusiasm and emotion.”

Liberty also scored a pair of touchdowns against Coalinga’s first team defense. However, it took until the end for the Hawks to start playing the way Nolte wanted to see during the goal-line portion of the scrimmage.

“We looked good in some spots,” Nolte said. “Our running game looked good. Our passing stuff was okay. We have to make sure we go after the ball more aggressively when it’s in the air.”

The Hawks made the most of their five plays at the three-yard line, scoring on four of them, including a touchdown from all three ball carriers — Wyatt Roth, Rylan Howe and Tyler Miller.

The Hawks’s second team players battled even with Coalinga during the middle of the scrimmage.

“Our offense wasn’t bad,” Nolte said. “I just wish we would have played with more enthusiasm and it would have looked a lot better.”

The Hawks open the regular season Friday night, hosting the Firebaugh Eagles. The Hawks opened last season with a 55-34 victory over the Eagles.