WACO, TX— The TAPPS Division I State Championship game will see the Liberty Christian Warriors of Argyle face off against the Parish Episcopal Panthers of Dallas on Saturday, December 7, at 7 p.m.
The Liberty Christian Warriors are defending state champions after posting a perfect 14-0 record last season and beating Reagent Knights for a state title, 52-10. In the game, running back Chase Garnett had 184 yards and three touchdowns, and Cole Welliver, now at Connecticut, went 15-19 for 164 yards and three scores.
This Saturday, December 7, the Warriors will face off against the Parish Episcopal Panthers at 7:00 p.m.
“Iron sharpens iron, as one man sharpens another,”- Proverbs 27:17.
In short, Liberty Christian knew the target would be on them this season. So far, they’ve handled it very well. Liberty Christian has posted a perfect district, 6-0, and a near-perfect season, 11-1, only losing to Texas High early in the season.
While the Warriors lost that game, the highly anticipated game was later in the season when they faced off against Parish Episcopal, another TAPPS school. As a matter of fact, the Warriors are ranked number one in the state rankings and the Panthers are ranked number two.
In Week 8, these two high powered teams met, and the Warriors emerged victorious, 35-27. The Panthers had a field day through the air where senior quarterback Sawyer Anderson, a Purdue commit, threw for 551 yards. He had three receivers go for over 100 yards in the game, Marcus Hanish (146), Carson Darby (118), and Beckham Smith (117). Junior Jaylen Pile nearly eclipsed the 100-yard mark but came up just short with 99.
The Warriors did an excellent job containing the Panther’s ground game as the Warriors only gave up 53 rushing yards to Parish Episcopal. Part of that is more than likely due to the Panthers have to throw the ball as they were down 28-13 at halftime.
Liberty Christian’s junior quarterback Quinn Murphy was surgical when passing the ball. He went 21-26 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Brady Janusek crossed the 100-yard mark with 121, adding a touchdown, and senior Jaylen Hawkins, like Pile, came up short with 97 but crossed the goal line twice.
On the ground, Chase Garnett and Blake Brisker had 60 and 52 yards respectively and Murphy threw 54 in the mix. The Warriors ended up with 174 yards and two scores with the rushing attack.
Defensively, the Warriors gathered two sacks from seniors CJ Witten and Madox Sekyere, and junior Cade Violi and senior Brady Janusek each had an interception. Junior Jett Haire recovered a fumble and senior Jaylon Hawkins forced one.
The Panthers senior DC Crane got to the quarterback once and junior Jesse Richardson caused a fumble which senior Nick Wheeler recovered.
Overall, the Warriors are on a 10-game win streak and are putting up just over 51 points per game while giving up two touchdowns. In the playoffs, Liberty Christian has scored 63 points in each of their contests and given up 19 points against Bishop Lynch but shut out St. Thomas Catholic. In other words, the Warriors have taken care of business.
This season, Murphy took over and has completed 65% of his passes (199-302). He has thrown for 2,779 yards, 39 touchdowns, and only has three interceptions. Murphy has also added 196 yards on the ground and has four rushing touchdowns.
Garnett and Blake Brisker have been the one-two punch out of the backfield and have 1,849 yards combined, 1,307 for Garnett and 542 for Brisker. They’ve also crossed the goal line 27 times with Garnett’s team leading 20 rushing touchdowns.
Through the air, Jaylon Hawkins leads the team with 1,010 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. Quinton Brown is next in line with 716 yards and nine touchdowns and Janusek has added seven scores and 573 yards. Sophomore Cooper Witten has taken 15 receptions for 263 yards and seven touchdowns.
For the Warrior’s defense, CJ Witten has 104 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, three sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one interception and blocked field goal. Seykere has sacked the quarterback five times, 10 tackles for loss, 62 tackles, and a fumble recovery, forced fumble, blocked punt, and blocked field goal. Cooper Witten leads the Warriors with five interceptions.
Liberty Christian has quite a few players who are playing at the next level. Nine athletes from the school signed to play with various schools and six of those were football players. The following five signed to play football while Janusek will be teammates with Gunner Dillard at Oklahoma.
- Nick Blevins- West Point
- Quinton Brown- Boise State
- Jaylon Hawkins- San Diego State
- Chase Garnett- University of South Florida
- CJ Witten- Rice
- Brady Janusek- Oklahoma (baseball)
The Panthers have a super talented roster as well starting with Sawyer Anderson who has gone 245-363 (66% completion percentage), 4,830 yards, 47 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
Hanish has been the leading back with 793 yards and 13 touchdowns. Nick Wheeler has 358 yards and 16 touchdowns, and Anderson has added 415 yards and six scores on the ground as well.
Parish Episcopal has three 1,000-yard receivers, Carson Darby leads the pack with 1,556 yards and 16 touchdowns. Jaylen Pile has 16 receiving touchdowns and 1,312 yards and Bryson Fields has 1,052 yards and six scores. Out of the backfield, Hanish had 475 yards and two scores while Beckham Smith has added 358 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, DC Crane and Nick Wheeler have 120 tackles and 116 tackles respectively. Adam Roth and Landry Satler each have four sacks. Pile, Wheeler, and sophomore Jonny Ginsburg have two interceptions apiece. They also do a pretty good job harassing the opposing quarterback whereas the Panther’s defense has 92 quarterback hurries.
The offense does a very good job putting up points, scoring 56 points per game and the defense gives up on average just over 31 points per game. In the playoffs, Parish Episcopal has averaged nearly 60 points a game (59.66), and has given up 29.66 points to the opposing teams.
In the end, these two schools seemed destined to meet again, only fitting that meeting is in the Division I State Championship.
This game reminds me of a quote I heard once.
“Fate whispers to the Warrior, “You cannot withstand the storm.”
The Warrior whispers back, “I am the storm.”
San Angelo LIVE! will be in Waco covering the TAPPS Division 1 State Championship this Saturday.
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