Liberty outdoes Coastal Carolina in overtime to notch crazy Cure Bowl victory
By: Davin Wilson
Tags: NCAA, Liberty, Cure Bowl, Football, Boxers Or Briefs

If Liberty University’s bowl win Saturday night was a mixtape of 90s hits, it would be called “That’s What I Call A Finish Vol. 1…”

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with quotes from former GW standouts Carlos and Carl Poole Jr. along with his parents, Carl Sr. and Sermica, in the next few days.

ORLANDO — If Liberty University’s bowl win Saturday night was a mixtape of 90s hits, it would be called “That’s What I Call A Finish Vol. 1.”

Liberty’s special teams blocked a field goal in the opening minutes of overtime and the Flames notched their second consecutive bowl championship with a 37–34 win over №9 Coastal Carolina in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.

After ending regulation with an unfortunate turn of events, sophomore outside linebacker Brendan Schlittler made sure Liberty (10–1) ended up on the right end of fate when he broke through Coastal’s special teams unit and blocked the potential tying field goal, sending the Flames spilling out on the field at Camping World Stadium.

Liberty suffered from an unfortunate twist of fate on what appeared to be a go-ahead scoring drive. With under a minute left and the Flames just needing a field, senior running back Joshua Mack took a handoff on a designed kneel play, but coughed up the ball after being pushed to the 1-yard line.

Coastal Carolina (11–1) jumped on the loose ball and was content with forcing the game into overtime.

The Flames got the ball to start the overtime period, but were unsuccessful in putting any together, going three-and-out. A delay of game penalty turned a 39-yard field goal attempt into 44 yards, but senior kicker Alex Barbir ended his career in style, drilling his kick through the left side of the uprights.

Liberty was the upstart, jumping on the 12th-ranked Chanticleers early for 14 unanswered points in the opening minutes, racing out to a 14–0 lead on redshirt junior Malik Willis’ 6-yard touchdown run with six seconds remaining in the opening period. It was déjà vu for Willis as he’d given the Flames their first lead of the game with his 5-yard run on Liberty’s first possession.

Saturday’s matchup between Liberty and Coastal had been billed as one of the most exciting games of the bowl season and the Chanticleers made sure the game matched its marquee hype, firing back with 10 unanswered points in trimming their deficit to four.

Massimo Biscardi got Coastal on the board with his 21-yard field goal. Quarterback Grayson McCall pulled Coastal within four, 14–10, when he found Isaiah Likely for a 25-yard touchdown with 2:02 left in the first half.

The Flames led 17–13 at the break.

Liberty led by 12 in the fourth quarter when Willis went gladiator and punched the ball in from three yards out for his fourth rushing touchdown that made it a 31–19 game with 13:22 on the clock.

McCall wasn’t going to be outdone and answered back with a 1-yard scoring run of his own, pulling the Chanticleers with five. Barbir once again came up with the Golden Boot for the Flames as he was perfect on a 32-yard field goal that made it a possession game.

Coastal found its grit, though, as McCall struck Latushko for the tying score that sent the game to overtime.

Willis was Liberty’s maverick, throwing for 220 yards while also leading the squad in rushing with 137 yards and rushing scores with four. Mack was right at his signal caller’s heels, finishing with 105 yards.

Senior wide receiver DJ Stubbs went out in fashion, pulling five passes for 68 yards while freshman receiver Demario Douglas proved the cool rookie, hauling in five catches for 51 yards.

Senior Anthony Butler recorded a team-high nine tackles (three solo) while juniors Javon Scruggs finished with eight (five solo) and an interception and Marcus Haskins had seven (five solo).

McCall played the ox for Coastal, throwing for game-highs of 318 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for a team-high 96 yards and a score.

Latushko led the Chanticleers with two touchdown receptions while Likely checked in with one. McCall had junior Javion Heiligh dialed into his periscope as Heiligh finished with a game-high 178 yards on 13 receptions.

Junior Enock Makonzo provided the muscle for Coastal’s defense, notching a game-high 10 tackles (six solo). Junior Jeffrey Gunter carried his weight, recording eight tackles (five solo) while senior Silas Kelly ended his career with eight tackles (four solo). Spillum and Matts each picked off a pass.