Liberty has been on the wrong end of too many football games over the past three years, but the Hurricanes overcame plenty of mistakes last Thursday night to pull out a 15-14 road win over Central Catholic.

Christian Hackett drilled a 30-yard game-winner with a minute left in regulation to push the Hurricanes to 2-0 and earn a confidence boosting win over a program like Central Catholic.

It was an error filled night by Liberty, who committed four turnovers, allowed Central to recover a pooch kick on the opening kickoff of the second half and saw Hackett miss a potential go-ahead 29-yard field goal with 11 minutes left in the game.

And despite all of that, Liberty found a way to win.

“Any win in the EPC is big and you try not to put any symbolic stuff on these games, but it’s the first win over an EPC South team in my career,” said Liberty head coach Shawn Daignault. “I know the South doesn’t exist anymore but that’s how we still evaluate things. To do it the way we did it, where we had to face adversity, made mistakes and showed resilience and that we have enough talent to play with people even when we make mistakes. I’m really proud of the effort the team gave.”

Liberty led 12-7 at halftime thanks to Jake Pukszyn hauling in a 22-yard touchdown catch midway through the second quarter and Gabe Green punching in a nine-yard score with 38 seconds left in the half. The extra point and two-point conversions on both scores failed, but Liberty felt good going into halftime with a lead.

Then Central caught them sleeping on the opening kickoff of the second half, pooching a kick to the left side and recovering at the 36.

Central made them pay with one of their rare completions of the night, a 28-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Cahill to Nate Bringuez to push the Vikings ahead 14-12 with 9:36 left in the third quarter.

Liberty only had three possessions in the second half and registered 18 plays in the final 24 minutes, as scoring opportunities were rare in the final two quarters. After Hackett missed his field goal early in the fourth quarter, Central ate up nearly nine minutes of the clock with a long drive that resulted in the Vikings electing to pass on fourth and long at the Liberty 33. The pass was incomplete and the Hurricanes had new life.

Adrian Deleon, who ran for 97 yards on the night, picked up 46 yards alone on Liberty’s final drive, helping set up Hackett’s game-winning score.

“Our guys knew we were going to get the ball back late in the fourth quarter,” Daignault. “I’m really proud of how we’re sophomore kicker stepped up after missing that. A win like this just gives us them some credibility for all the work we’ve done.”