It looked like Liberty was on the cusp of a signature win that they haven’t experienced in years last Friday night at home against Central Catholic and with one sweep of a leg the Vikings were celebrating on the BASD turf.

Central Catholic kicker Luke Myers booted home a 50-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Vikings a 23-20 victory over the Hurricanes. It was a cruel way to end a valiant effort by the ‘Canes over the state ranked Vikings and one that head coach Shawn Daignault could only shake his head about.

“In a lot of ways this is a really tough loss, but in a lot of ways I’m really proud of my team,” said Daignault. “Everyday they come to work with the intent of getting better and that process is paying off. That was really clear. It’s frustrating not getting the win, but there was real evidence of how much better we’re getting week-to-week.”

Central (5-2) came into the game sporting losses to only Parkland and Nazareth, the top two teams in District 11, and were ranked seventh in 4A across Pennsylvania. Liberty (2-5) have lost five straight games after last week, but never looked overmatched against the Vikings, trailing only 10-6 at halftime.

Myers, who had three field goals on the night, booted a 23-yarder in the first half to go along with a six-yard rushing score from Nathan Schultz to build Central’s lead. The Hurricanes got on the board with 1:43 left in the second quarter thanks to a 17-yard touchdown pass from Caden Vermuelen to Jake Pukszyn to make it 10-6 after a failed extra point.

Vermuelen hit Pukszyn again in the fourth quarter on a 21-yard TD strike to bring them within 13-12 following another botched PAT.

Central answered with a 28-yard touchdown run by Schultz with 9:41 to play to go up 20-12, but Liberty kept battling.

Liberty recovered a Central fumble with 5:55 left at the Vikings 29 and eventually marched down to the Central goal line where Adriaan Deleon found paydirt on a one-yard score with 1:09 left in the game.

Vermuelen then hit Pukszyn on a slant for the two-point conversion to tie the game and give Liberty the momentum.

From there, the Vikings were able to march down to the Liberty 33 and give themselves one last chance with Myers, who stole the night with his game-winning kick.

“This would have been a signature win no doubt,” said Daignault. “Gabe Green went down at running back for us and we had guys step up and replace him and then we had a change at quarterback and it provided a spark for the offense. It took Caden a little bit to get in rhythm, but he kept finding Jake Pukszyn who was unguardable. There’s a lot of positives I’m going to find on film and we’ll correct the mistakes, but there’s a lot of good to take away from this.”

Liberty now travels to Emmaus (4-3) this Friday in a game that they need to win to fight for their postseason lives.

The Hurricanes came into the week ranked 10th in the District 11 6A power rankings and a victory this week would give them a boost in the standings.