Napavine scores in final seconds to take down Liberty, advance to state quarterfinals

A touchdown pass from Beckett Landram to Carter Edmonds in the final seconds gave Napavine the late boost it needed in Centralia on Saturday, as the seventh-seeded Tigers took down No. 10 Liberty (Spangle) 29-22 in the Round of 16 to advance to the 2B State Quarterfinals.

“I’m super excited for these guys to have that opportunity,” Napavine coach Josh Fay said.

Liberty tied the game at 22 with a touchdown drive, but the Lancers left about two and a half minutes left on the clock.

As the Tigers approached the red zone on the ensuing drive, the focus was to try to get within kicker Ikeer Gonzalez’s range for a potential game-winning field goal.

With about 25 seconds left, they elected to take one final shot at the end zone, and Landram hit Edmonds from 27 yards out for the game-winning score.

“(Edmonds) just did a nice job of selling the vertical, and Beckett did a good job of looking it for and coming back to it,” Fay said.

After the ensuing kickoff, Liberty was able to advance the ball to midfield, but a last-gasp play that included several laterals never made it close to the end zone.

Fay credited Liberty for giving Napavine all it could handle, and for forcing several mistakes earlier in the game.

Napavine gave Liberty a short field that led to the Lancers’ first TD, and the Tigers also allowed a 90-yard kickoff return after a 10-minute drive of their own.

“There were some things we’ll need to clean up,” Fay said. “But any one of these wins is a good win at this point. It's always exciting to win and find a way into that next round. You don’t want to be done, you want to keep playing. Monday, the team will get abc to work, and we’ll get ready for Northwest Christian.”

Napavine’s quarterfinal against No. 2 Northwest Christian (Colbert) will take place on either Friday, Nov. 20 or Saturday, Nov. 21.