Level of competition increases

Breaking records and playing two NCAA-Division I-AA teams characterized Liberty's 1980 football season

Adding this to 1979's record of 9-1-1 gives Liberty a two-year record of 16-4-1,thebest two-year recordin thestate.

The Flames have continued tostep up theladderofcompetitioneachyear and thus farhave been successful on each step. Liberty faced two NCAA Division I-AA schools for the first time and splitthe contests.

The Flames opened their season withadefeatat thehandsofMarsHill inLynchburg CityStadium Thefinal scorewas 7-0, andit wasthefirst time in20games thattheFlames had been shut out The Flames kept theirJericho defense alive until the finalsecond wasspent.

Libertyrebounded aftertheirloss to Mars Hill withavictoryover Catawba College, 35-14.

With theFlames record standingat one attacked the Bowie State Bulldogs in City Stadium with five touchdowns while shutting theiroffensedown the entire game, to walk away with another victory, 35-0

The nextgame ontheFlames' agenda was the first international game ever played in central Virginia The Flames played host totheUniversity of Mexico Felinos, and the Flames won theoffensive contest by a score of 42-21. Many reserves had the opportunity to play as theFlames' first string played only thefirstquarter.

Now holding a 3-1 record, the Flames travelled to James Madison University. Thiswastheirfirst shot at an NCAA Division I-AA college team They weredefeatedbyascore of 30-14

"This game was nothing to be ashamed ofbecause theFlames stood up to them very well," Head Coach Tom Dowling said

With a 3-2 record theFlames travelled to North Carolina to face the Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb. The Flames came out on top 15-14. This was the third close contest in the Gardner-Webb series. The previous two meetings had ended with scores of 20-20 and 29-32.This victory was sparked by an 82-yard Earl Fisher interception return fora touchdown

Coming back home forthe Shrine Bowl atCity Stadium against LenoirRhyne College,the Flames moved up to a5-2recordwith avictoryof45-35

With one more victory behind them, the Flames travelled to New York toplay against C.W. Post but they came out on the bottom by a score of30-13.

Homecoming has always been a game that Liberty was confident of winning. But in 1980something else added a new dimension tothegame.

Morehead State was the opposition—an NCAA Division I-AA team—in City Stadium The optimist's hope wasforLBC tomake thecontest look close Surprisingly, Morehead State, who wascoming offa10-point loss to the University of Western Kentucky, was defeated by LBC, 2320. Offensively theleadroleswere divided between three players. Glenn Inverso led in passing yardage with 150andonetouchdown, ChrisPatterson inreception yardage with 90 and one touchdown,and Greg Moselyled in rushing yardage with 82 and one touchdown.

Liberty ended its winning season with a home victory of 51-18 over Hampton Institute This game was thelastcollegegame forseveralplayers including quarterback Glenn Inverso Inverso passed for 282 yards and ended witharecord-breakingperformance.Inaddition, Mark DeMoss kicked six extra points for a season totalof32,toextend LBC's streakto (continued on page 111)

Level of competition com

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79 straight extra points, the longest streak alive in thenation

Here's a summary of the season: Mars Hill,7; LBC, 0- This was the firsttimein20games thattheFlames had been shut out The only scoreof the game came in the second quarter on aMars Hilldriveof12plays startingon itsown 27yard line and ending with aone yard run up themiddle by Ken Phillips which was followed by an extra point by John Cobel

The Liberty defense held Mars Hill to only 11 first downs for 244 yards and forced them to punt eighttimes

"Victor King, Ed Landis, John Sanders,and Scott Hoefling and the restof the defensive team played superbly," said LBC Head Coach Tom Dowling "Itwas difficulttopick out one topplayer."

LBC, 35; Catawba College,14- The Flames came back from their season opening loss toMars Hill with a victory over Catawba This was thesecond year that LBC had come out on topoftheIndians The scoringwasas follows: LBC opened with a10-0 score inthe first quarteron a 12yard run by Greg Mosely and a DeMoss 24 yard field goal LBC then scored 11 more points,to 14 for Catawba,to end the first half with a 21-14 lead The Flames then went on to score one touchdown in each of the final two quarters on a six yard pass from Inversoto MitchellClarkand aoneyard run by Greg Mosely toend the game 35-14

"The two pivotalplays in the game were Darrell Walker's 45 yard field goal and Mark Shelton's 42 yard touchdown catch from Glenn Inverso with two seconds remaining in the half," said Head Coach Dowling. "Also because our offensive line had improved,Inverso could be protected and thus our offense could operateas itwas designed to operate."

LBC, 35; Bowie State, 0- After both teams completed their first series to no avail, LBC received a punt and begana shortsecond series on theBowie State39yard line. The firstplay from scrimmage was a 39yard pass playto Chris Patterson fora touchdown The Flames went on to score another (continued on page 113)