Mistakes hurt Hawks in opener against champs

Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune

Liberty’s Anthony Gaitan hauls in a touchdown pass to tie the game in the first half of Friday’s loss to the Strathmore Spartans. 

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STRATHMORE — Although it doesn’t look like it from the score, but the Liberty Hawks football team played tough with the defending CIF State 7-A Champions and Central Section Div. VI champions, Strathmore Spartans, in its first game of the season. 

The Hawks cut the lead to 21-14 with all the momentum in the fourth quarter. However, a botched pooch kick fell into the hands of one of the Strathmore front-line players. He returned it 50 yards for the backbreaking touchdown in a 28-14 Hawks’ loss Friday in Strathmore. 

“They are a good football team. We don’t take anything away from them. Our mistakes hurt us more than they did,” head coach Mike Nolte said. “That kick was a definite turning point. We had momentum that we never recovered.”