WENTZVILLE – Holt senior Mason Burke could feel the raucous enthusiasm in the stadium beginning to wane.
In front of a huge home crowd and bombastic student section, Burke and the defense struggled to get off the field during an enthusiasm-draining, 11-play opening drive by Liberty.
So, he took matters into his own hands.
A quarterback pressure by Burke produced the first of five interceptions by the Holt defense, and senior Ayden Sullivan threw for 206 yards and three scores as the Indians surged to a 49-6 victory over Liberty Friday at Holt High School.
Holt (1-1) which defeated Liberty for the sixth time in the last seven meetings, also received 139 yards rushing and two touchdowns from junior Xavier Adams.
Burke recorded two sacks, multiple quarterback pressures and batted two passes that resulted in interceptions. For good measure, he added a one-yard rushing touchdown.
“We came out with high intensity and played our game plan. When we started rolling, they had no answer,” Burke said.
Senior David Macklin’s interception at the front pylon halted Liberty’s 11-play opening drive. Gavin Moore’s blocked punt provided the necessary field position for the offense to get on its own roll.
First, Sullivan dropped a perfect pass to junior Gabe Cunningham down the left sideline for a 19-yard completion on fourth-and-11. Then, Conrad King punched it in from one yard away the put the Indians on the scoreboard.
Liberty (1-1) mounted a surgical 12-play drive on its next possession, but once again Burke decided he had seen enough, deflecting a Cody McMullen pass at the line of scrimmage that fluttered into the grasp of defensive tackle Aiden Bereuter.
“When you have drives like that, and you don’t finish the way you want to finish, it causes you to get more anxious and uptight, and you start to get more and more out of sync,” Liberty coach Ryan McMillen said.
The junior McMullen made several pinpoint throws, often changing his arm angle to avoid free rushers. He completed 19-of-39 passes for 192 yards, but the Holt takeaways kept spoiling the accumulation of positive plays.
When Liberty senior running back Marquis Williams collided with a lineman while trying to release for a screen pass, McMullen attempted to nix the play and throw the ball out of bounds, but Holt junior Mason Behrndt raced to the sideline and picked it off before it landed in the Liberty bench.
On the next play, Sullivan hid the ball on a play-action pass and fired a 40-yard strike to Anthony Keller to open a 14-0 lead.
Another Holt free blitzer forced McMullen to scramble to his left and fire a pass across his body that was picked off by senior defensive back Jackie Diekman. In all, the first five Liberty possessions ended in four interceptions and a blocked punt.
“Our defense was able to get a lot of pressure and trap them in some coverages,” Holt coach Ethan Place said.
And the Holt offensive line and junior Xavier Adams took it from there. Three plays after Diekman’s interception, Adams burst through the line and sprinted 63 yards to put Holt ahead at halftime, 21-0.
Adams began the third quarter with another 63-yard touchdown run.
“Xavier is explosive, he can take off and he runs really hard,” Place said.
After a Liberty turnover on downs, Sullivan again looked to the end zone on the next play, finding Cunningham for a 37-yard bomb that put the game comfortably out of reach.
Burke deflected another pass that led to a fifth Holt interception and then capped off the offensive drive himself with a goal-line plunge.
Sullivan closed the scoring for Holt with a two-yard shovel to junior Kayone’ Thompson, notching his second consecutive week with three touchdown passes after accomplishing the feat in a 35-21 loss to Troy on Aug. 26.
“This week in practice we definitely had something to prove and we came out and showed what we’re about,” Sullivan said.
He added, “We’re definitely underrated, and I hope this gets us on the radar.”