Liberty County seeks Final Four berth (See Capsule)

BRISTOL — It looked like any ordinary substitution.

When Liberty County coach Grant Grantham inserted junior Stirling Lake at linebacker in last weekend’s Region 1-1A semifinal, it freed up other players to rotate around the Bulldogs defense. The chess move worked, and soon after Liberty County had South Walton in checkmate, 24-17.

The difference between winning and losing a playoff game can be one player. But when an entire team gets on the same page, state championships are won. The Liberty County Bulldogs (10-1) will play at Freeport at 7:30 p.m. for the right to go to their first state semifinals since 1998, when the winners of the region finals advanced straight to the state title.

Freeport defeated Blountstown 48-12 in the region semifinals.

“He played lights out, played better than any of our linebackers,” Grantham said of Lake. “Once you get in the playoffs, one play can make the difference. If you have the wrong guy in, it can be devastating and if you have the right guy in, it’s a great move.”

And if the right guys are running the right plays, it can be even better.

Liberty County spent last season installing the triple-option offense and with the return of brothers Kevin and Keith McCray from a year away from the team, the Bulldogs have polished their execution.

Grantham has taken some of the credit, saying he’s learned how to call the right plays for quarterback Terrance Evans. But the time invested by Evans and the McCrays into studying their roles is paying off.

“I think they’ve kinda figured it out a little bit and I’ve figured out what they’re capable of doing,” Grantham said. “We’ve changed it a lot from last year to this year.

“We can’t do it just like Georgia Tech, we don’t have the personnel to do that. But we can do this. I think we’ve got better. Terrance is reading the defense a lot better. Keith is hitting the hole better. Our pitch relationship is better. We’re picking up our reads a little better.”

Another reason Liberty County’s backfield is prospering is because of its offensive line, which, with the right lineup of four seniors, can be as experienced as any in the area. And it’s showing as the Bulldogs are the only area team left in the state playoffs.

The run attack is what brought Liberty County to the brink of state notoriety and Grantham isn’t about to abandon that.

“We completed one pass the other night and won a playoff game, so that means the offensive line has been run blocking pretty well,” Grantham said. “They’ve been a tight knit team. They’re kinda the heart and soul of the team.

“We’ve just got a nucleus of plays that we do, probably 12 or 13 run plays is what we’ll have and we just take that nucleus and try to adjust them to our opponent. People don’t believe it but we have about 40 pass plays in our offense, even though we don’t use them they’re there.”

This is the second time in Grantham’s career that he’s taken a team with one loss or less deep into the playoffs. In 2001, he led undefeated Wewahitchka to the regional semifinals where it lost to Jay.

Liberty County has been abuzz all fall because of football and volleyball, Grantham said, but with the school out for the whole week the hype has died down. Whether that’ll help or hurt Liberty County, Grantham won’t know until Friday night.

But Liberty County is used to playing “topsy-turvy” schedule.

“We played for a district championship at 4 o’clock in the afternoon on a Monday,” Grantham said. “I think we’re pretty capable.”