Evergreen stood solid for two and a half quarters, but a pair of disastrous third quarter turnovers helped Liberty Center pull away from a one-score game and finally subdue the Vikings, 27-0, Friday in NWOAL football.
Evergreen fell to 2-7 on the year.
Liberty Center scored on the opening series, going 69 yards in nine plays that ended in a Matthew Orr touchdown to take a lead with over seven minutes to go in the first.
From that point, the Vikings stiffened when Liberty Center threatened to extend the lead.
After a Viking punt, the Tigers drove into the red zone but Brock Hudik killed the drive when he picked off a Zane Zeiter pass in the end zone.
LC drove to the Evergreen 2 late in the second but Grant Richardson slammed the door, stuffing Orr for no gain on a 4th-and-1.
After stopping the Tigers again to open the second half, the Vikings used a Payton Boucher to Riley Dunbar 24-yard pitch and catch, along with a Tiger personal foul to get near midfield.
However on a sack, Boucher was injured and Hunter Vaculik’s first aerial was picked off by Tanner Kline and returned 50 yards for a score and a 14-0 Tiger lead.
On the next series, three straight first downs — two on Vaculik runs of 11 and 17 — pushed the Vikings in the red zone, but an errant snap was recovered by Liberty, way out at the 34-yard line.
On the third play, Teejay Moore romped 54 yards for a score that put the Tigers up 20-0.
LC added a fourth quarter score on Zeiter’s 32-yard rush after stopping the Vikings on a fourth down play in their own end.
The Tigers ran for 224 yards on the night and passed for 100.
Evergreen had 124 yards total.
