Andy Hodgson hoping to help lead Liberty to state
The toughest decision Liberty High School football coach Rick Johnson may face every week is not what his opponent will do, but where to play Andy Hodgson.
“He’s been a quarterback, he’s been a running back, he’s been a receiver, and he’s been a defensive back,” said Johnson. “In fact, when he was a freshman – I wasn’t here then – but he was the leading tackler as a defensive back.
“He’s steadily been one of the leading players throughout his career.”
The multidimensional Hodgson will be asked once again to carry the ball from the Lancer backfield this season, as well as man the cornerback position defensively. However, for the first time, he will do so as one of the captains of the Liberty squad.
“It’s a pretty big deal for me,” said Hodgson. “I’ve been a basketball captain for a while, but I’ve never been a football captain before.
“I’ve always wanted to be, so it’s a pretty big deal.”
His coach isn’t surprised Hodgson’s teammates selected him.
“This summer he was one of the leading kids in the weight room,” Johnson said. “He does all kinds of stuff the other kids see. He leads by example.
“He’s really not an extremely vocal kid, but he’s one of those kids that says look what I do versus what I say.”
Liberty is coming off a turnaround 7-2 campaign last season that saw the Lancers make an appearance in the state playoffs. Despite the first round loss to DeSales, Liberty is hoping Hodgson and the rest of its seniors will make it back-to-back state trips.
“Of course, everyone wants to win state,” Hodgson said. “That’s a given. We’re going to play as hard as we can and see what happens.
“Everyone thinks we’re going to have a pretty awesome year. We got a chance to feel what it was like to go to state last year for the first time.
“Nineteen ninety-eight I think was the last time we went in football, so everyone knows how it feels, and we’ll try to get back there again.
“Anything can happen at state. You just have to play a few good games and you’re in the big game. We just have to work hard to get back there and see what we can do.”
It’s heady thinking for a program that suffered through two losing seasons in Hodgson’s first two years at Liberty.
“These kids that are seniors this year, they’ve been playing sports together since grade school,” said Johnson, who enters his second season as the Lancer head coach. “They’re a very competitive group, and they work very hard at it.
“As freshmen and sophomores, they were pretty much starting and not doing very well. They just stuck with it, and their desire has turned it around. The senior class deserves a lot of credit.”
“We’re a lot more experienced now,” said Hodgson, who led the team in receiving last year. “Everybody has a lot better attitude about it.
“Everybody’s working out real hard at the gym and starting to care more about football, so that’s helping out.”
The Lancers hope to use that newfound attitude to knock off Reardan Friday night in their opener, and Hodgson is hoping for a big finish in his final season of football in Liberty.
“It’s been fun,” said the senior. “I’ve played for quite a few years now. I’ve had fun with it. We’ve just played together for so long.
“It’s kind of weird that it’s all coming down to the last year, but we’ve got an awesome team this year. They’re willing to work and they’re all psyched up for the season.
“We’ll have a great year.”