Liberty High School football has a standard of excellence that has been missing the past couple of seasons, but in 2025, it looked like the Patriots had found their stride and swagger for a program that has been one of the more underrated in Washington state.

Despite falling in the opening round of the 2025 state tournament, this Patriots group is a special one for Head Coach Steve Valach.

The Patriots were the No. 12 seed and took on the fifth seeded Lakes Lancers on the road in the first round of the state tournament. Liberty went down to the wire with the No. 5 seed, and went for two and the win at the end of regulation, but came up short and lost 35-34 on Nov. 14.

“Life and football, there are so many similarities. Things don’t go your way, you keep pressing and stay together, you keep fighting and believing. To battle back, I am so proud of them. What an awesome football game,” Valach said.

It was a back and forth contest all night. With 55 seconds left and the ball at the 35 yard line and one timeout, Liberty needed some magic.

The Patriots went to their horses, Spencer Bogh and Marek Wright, who made huge plays to get Liberty within striking distance with 15 seconds left in the game. King-Co Mountain 1st team quarterback Dawson Durham improvised after the Lakes pass rush got into the backfield, and he found Bogh, who made an incredible catch with 7 seconds left on the clock.

“We got the job done right there. I did my part and I was just letting my brothers finish the job for me. It didn’t go how we wanted it, but that’s all you can do as a teammate,” Bogh said.

Spencer Bogh celebrates his last second touchdown against Lakes. Ben Ray / The Reporter

After battling all game, Valach chose to ride the momentum and go for the win. Junior wide receiver Josh Feren had been unstoppable all night on a motion, jet sweep type of play. But with the game on the line and their season hanging in the balance, Lakes made the stop to win the game. “It’s heartbreaking not to punch it in there. I do feel like they poured out everything they had. That was beautiful to watch,” Valach said.

Feren is kind of an unsung hero this regular season and showed his potential on the field all night for the Patriots. “What a night, I’m so proud of him,” Valach said.

The pain of not crossing the goal line struck deep and for seniors like Bogh, it won’t be easy to forget.

“They hadn’t stopped that play all night. You still have Spencer Bogh on the other side of the field. I don’t know, I’m sick because we didn’t get it,” Valach said. “We just didn’t get it done.”

“That’s a play that had worked all game. Being a player, you’ve got to trust your coaches and what they call. We trusted our coaches. I don’t argue with that call at all. It just didn’t happen to workout how we wanted it,” Bogh said.

When this game will be looked back on, Liberty could have been outmatched and outclassed just based on the way Lakes started the game. But that wasn’t the case.

The Lancers went 60 yards on seven plays and didn’t really face much pushback from Liberty on their first drive of the night. Lakes then took advantage of a really poor punt at the end of Liberty’s first offensive drive.

A punt that went four yards gave Lakes the ball at the Liberty 44 and Lakes freshman quarterback Jadis Lefono found Tristan Baker on the very first play of their second drive. In an instant, Liberty trailed 14-0, on the road and in a ruckus at Harry E. Lang Stadium.

But then Liberty got going, and a 32-yard run from Sutton Flint jump-started the offense. Flint’s run opened up the middle of the field and Bogh was finding more space. Bogh capped off the six play drive with a touchdown.

Bogh had barely practiced all week due to an injury, but was ready to rock when it came to game day with his season on the line. “I had to be prepared for everything,” Bogh said.

Liberty overcame the 14-point deficit to head to the locker rooms right where the game began, dead even. With 1:32 left in the half, Durham found Tyke Hamilton wide open on a nice play-action design and Liberty was gaining momentum against an explosive Lakes team.

Marek Wright intercepted Lefono on the second to last play of the half and there was a real thought Liberty could upset the Lancers with the way they closed the half. “The mindset was ‘Let’s go!’ Some of their (Lakes) speed was a bit of shock and awe to start, but then to recover and go, ‘ok here we go.’ I’m so proud of these guys, it just breaks my heart,” Valach said.

Ean Owens of Lakes runs the ball up field, breaking Liberty tackles along the way. Ben Ray / The Reporter

Liberty was forced to punt on the first drive of the second half and Lakes answered with another big play. Lefono ran the read option and outran the Liberty defense for a 62-yard touchdown to take the lead, 21-14.

In the closing moments of the third quarter, Liberty converted a 4th-and-5 from the 15-yard line, and eventually on the final play of the third quarter, Durham ran the tush push to tie the game at 21-21. With 12:00 to go, these two sides were locked in battle.

The two sides traded scores in the middle of the quarter. Sophomore Tristan Klein scored Liberty’s touchdown and the score was 28-28 with 4:33 remaining.

With 55 seconds left, Lakes’ Korben Reed rumbled and tumbled over Liberty’s defense and finally gave Lakes the lead they could hold onto.

Liberty’s ability to keep battling and hang on was ever present on what would be the final drive of the season. To have someone like Durham, who was considering not even being a quarterback last season, lead the team on and off the field, is a special moment for Liberty. Durham’s fight and resilience to find Bogh makes that two-point conversion failure hurt even more. “Nobody expected us to go this far. First of all we do it for each other, but we also don’t do it to win. We do it for the opportunity to win. Nothing is guaranteed. We played our hearts out,” Bogh said.