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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State 1B football: Liberty Bell’s Paz brothers too much for Wilbur-Creston-Keller

Wilbur-Creston-Keller poses with State 1B second-place trophy at Husky Stadium in Seattle on Friday. WCK lost to defending champion Liberty Bell 68-22.  (Dave Nichols)

SEATTLE – Defending champion Liberty Bell entered Friday’s State 1B championship game at Husky Stadium on quite a roll, scoring 76 and 64 points in its previous two playoff games. Wilbur-Creston-Keller, the Northeast 1B champion, found out the hard way just how prolific the Mountain Lions offense can be.

Brothers Lucian and Remington Paz combined for more than 200 yards rushing and top-seeded Liberty Bell beat the second-seeded Wildcats 68-22 to defend its title.

“We just ran into a better team today,” Wilbur-Creston-Keller 12th-year coach Darin Reppe said. “It’s as simple as that. It’s not gonna take anything away from our accomplishments this year – super proud of our kids. Best season in Wildcat history and phenomenal experience for our kids to play in Husky Stadium.”

Lucian Paz had 127 yards on five carries with three touchdowns. Remington added 97 yards on nine carries with two scores.

“Speed kills in 8-man football and that team has tremendous speed across the board,” Reppe said. “They fly to the football, and we knew we were going to have our hands full trying to contain their speed. And that was a huge difference.”

It was Wilbur-Creston-Keller’s first state football championship game. Last week’s 66-22 semifinal win over No. 3 Mossyrock in the semifinals was the first time the program got past the quarterfinal stage.

WCK (12-1) scored on its first possession on a 12-yard pass from Preston Michel to Kallen Maioho, but it was all Liberty Bell after that.

Bodie Thomson’s 29-yard pass and subsequent 2-point conversion gave the Mountain Lions (10-0) a lead they never surrendered.

Remington Paz hauled in a 30-yard TD pass, then scored on a 52-yard carry. Lucian Paz added a 31-yard TD run and Thomson’s second score of the half was a 24-yard catch. Thomson finished with three catches for 83 yards and three TDs.

Maioho added a 9-yard TD reception with 2 minutes left in the second quarter but Liberty Bell recovered the short kickoff and converted on Remington Paz’s 3-yard TD run for a 46-14 lead at halftime.

Lucian Paz had TD runs of 39 and 55 yards at the start of the third quarter to put the game into a running clock.

Maioho gained 86 yards on 14 carries while Michel finished with 77 yards on 18 carries.

“They’re motivated,” Reppe said of his star players. “They’re both juniors and we’re looking forward to having them back next year.”CK 6-8-0-8 22

LB 24-22-22-0 68

WCK- Maioho 12 pass from Michel (run fail)

LB- Thomson 29 pass from L.Paz (R.Paz from L.Paz)

LB- R.Paz 30 pass from L.Paz (G.Paz from L.Paz)

LB- R.Paz 52 run (L.Paz run)

LB- Thomson 24 pass from L.Paz (L.Paz run)

WCK- Maioho 9 pass from Michel (Maioho from Michel)

LB- R.Paz 3 run (Smith pass from L.Paz)

LB- L.Paz 39 run (pass fail)

LB- L.Paz 55 run (L.Paz run)

LB- Thomson 30 pass from L.Paz (L.Paz run)

WCK- Maioho 5 run (Dreger run)