H.S. FOOTBALL: Liberty set for ‘meat grinder’ to start season

Liberty Tech football coach Steve Hookfin will never be one to be accused of padding his team’s schedule to produce more wins for the sake of more wins.

“What’s the point in that?” Hookfin said. “If all you do is win in the regular season, pile all these wins up, fail to get any better then get beat early in the playoffs.

“Yeah it’s fun for a while, but nobody remembers the teams that are out in the first two weeks of the playoffs. Some people have called our schedule a ‘meat grinder.’ I’d rather be through a meat grinder than have a false sense of hope after beating some cupcakes.”

Liberty is about to enter the second season of playing non-district opponents like Memphis University School and Brentwood Academy – two of the perennial powerhouses in Division II-AA. Later in the season, the Crusaders will play Class 6A playoff mainstay Millington.

But all of that will come after this week when the Crusaders host defending Class 5A champion Henry County.

Playing the Patriots is nothing new for Liberty. They’ve been the first game on the schedule ever since Liberty dropped down to Class AA in 2009. Before then, the teams were in the same district and would play every year.

“I’m glad Henry County has continued to put us on the schedule, because we both play each other to give ourselves an idea of where we’re at when the season begins,” Hookfin said. “There are some years where we didn’t do that for them, or at least the scoreboard didn’t show that we did.”

The last time that statement was true was 2011. Liberty had high expectations that year and traveled to Paris with plans of beating the Patriots. Instead, Henry County won 38-0 and wouldn’t lose at all that season on the way to its first state championship. Liberty came home and had a practice that night as soon as they got off the bus.

Not many players who experienced that are still in the program as this year’s seniors were freshmen that year. But none of the players want a repeat of that, especially on their home field.

“We call our home field The Dungeon, but it could wind up being a dungeon for us,” Hookfin said.

Senior lineman Colton Meadows said the Crusaders have the ability to beat any team on their schedule.

“We’ve got a lot of talent and experience, and I think we have the best coaches in West Tennessee,” Meadows said. “I like playing Henry County, and I want us to get a win over them before I graduate.”

This is Meadows’ and his senior classmates’ last shot.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751

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