Redskins Washed Away in Rainy Opener

The Ulysses Tigers used a strong defense and dominant running game to blow out the Liberal Redskins 38-6 Friday night at the Cornelsen Sports Complex in Liberal. The game was played in a persistent rain and 55 degrees. Ian Rudzik ran for 195 yards and four touchdowns for the Tigers. After the game LHS head coach Caleb Cline said his team wasn’t as fundamentally sound as they needed to be especially tackling.

After Liberal’s opening drive went three and out, Ulysses scored at the 9:06 mark at Rudzik raced it in from 29 yards out. The Tiger two point conversion was good. Zach Romero added a seven yard TD at the 2:06 mark of the quarter but the two point attempt failed to make it 14-0 UHS. Liberal’s Kyler Thompson returned a kick 62 yards giving the Skins excellent field position. On 3rd and 18 with the drive stalling, Rex Heronemus burst up the middle for a 37 yard touchdown to make it 14-6 with 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The extra point hit the upright and missed. Mitchell Irby recovered a fumble on the insuing kick return to give LHS the ball back. But Ulysses’ Juan Anguiano stripped the ball and then recovered it at the Tiger 37 in perhaps the turning point of the game. Rudzik raced in from 33 yards out and made the two point conversion to make it 22-6 which was the halftime score.

Ulysses milked about seven minutes off the clock in their opening drive capped by a Rudzik 16 yard run and two point conversion to make the score 30-6 with 5:07 to play in the third. Rudzik’s 53 yard TD run with 50 second remaining in the third blew the game open even more to make it 38-6 after the two point conversion.

Ulysses had 318 yards of offense and had several long runs called back due to penalties. One year after amassing a record setting 698 yards at Ulysses, the Skins had 175 yards. Heronemus rushed for 112 yards. Liberal’s quarterback Hasik was 0-1 passing while Ulysses Rodriguez was also 0-1 passing on a rainy night.

Ulysses coach Jason Kenney is 7-2 against the Redskins. The game marked Caleb Cline’s first game as LHS head coach. Liberal plays at Guymon Friday night at 7 with a 6 p.m. Redskin Pre-game on 1270 and kscbnews.net. Ulysses hosts Hugoton.