(Aislyn Carrillo/CHSAANow.com)
FORT COLLINS — Not only are Liberty Common and Heritage Christian rival schools, but coming from the same area, they are also companions.
With both teams coming in to Thursday’s match undefeated in league play, it was clear that one team was going to leave upset. It wouldn’t be CHSAANow.com’s No. 3-ranked Liberty Common as they came away with the 3-0 victory.
“We always cheer for them when we are not playing them,” said Liberty Common coach Dan Knab. “But now that were playing them, we have to beat them.”
Senior Rob Knab set the tone for the first half, making two of the three goals scored during the match. As Liberty Common’s (12-0-1 overall, 7-0 3A Region 7) leading scorer of the season, fans and spectators were not expecting anything less of him.
“Rob’s just a gladiator,” one Eagles fan said. “He’s been scoring goals like crazy.”
This season alone, Knab has scored 21 of Liberty’s 64 goals.
According to Heritage Christian coach David Young, his team had a hard time adjusting to Knab early on in the match. They played slow on defense and gave up two goals.
Going into the second half, Heritage came together as a team and played aggressive. Compared to the first half, they had more possession over the ball and communicated to each other much better, only letting Caleb Baptista score one more goal for Liberty Common. Young is confident that his team always is putting forward their full effort and that is all he can ask for as a coach.
“Even down 3-0, I still felt like they were working their hardest and trying their best,” said Young.
Young wanted his team to finish opportunities and give it their all; they completed one of the two tasks. According to Young, Liberty Common’s defense never gave Heritage a chance to even create opportunities. They shut Heritage’s offense down, giving them less than a handful of quality shots on goal throughout the match.
Liberty Common coach Dan Knab gives credit to the assistant coaches and bench players who were all well prepared for the game. The assistant coaches led their warm-up and set them up for success. Toward the end of the match Dan Knab put his bench players in and they didn’t skip a beat.
The coaches from both teams were anticipating an intense match and that is exactly what came of it. Fans from both schools cheered on their teams until the board struck zero.
After today’s victory, Liberty Common is now one step closer to taking the league title. Dan Knab recognized that his team have already played the toughest teams in the league and have come out on top.
Even though Heritage Christian’s undefeated record no longer stands, they still have a positive mindset going into its next couple matches. With final league games and the Class 3A state playoffs coming up so soon, both teams know what they need to do in order to be successful.
Going into the next two games against Denver Christian and Dawson, Young plans on working on his team’s ability to create and finish opportunities in goal.
“Those will be our big tests and determine if we make it in to playoffs this year,” said Young.