Prep football: Lessons learned for Liberty in loss at Putnam

MILWAUKIE Mercifully, the game ended and the lessons began.

The disappointed Liberty football players gathered around their coach in an end zone Friday night to listen to a postgame speech that could have doubled for a classroom discussion.

Behind them, the scoreboard flashed a final score that could not be sugarcoated: Putnam 63, Liberty 0.

In the opposite end zone, the Kingsmen players were chanting with helmets raised as their fans cheered all around them at Putnam High School. And as that celebration died down, 100 yards away, the Falcons continued to listen intently to coach Eric Mahlum.

The loss dropped Liberty to 1-5, including 1-3 in the Northwest Oregon Conference. But it was more than the defeat that Mahlum spoke about to his players afterward. It was about effort, staying together as a team and learning from this stinging feeling in the season's final three games.

"Right now, they are hurting inside," Mahlum said of his team. "They care. They've got great character. They're just hurting. They'd like to take this one and play it over. Not necessarily to change the scoreboard, but change the way we played tonight."

No matter how Liberty played Friday, it couldn't change the talent Putnam has in Deshawn Stephens. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior wide receiver displayed why he's being looked at closely by several colleges.

Stephens finished with a career-high six touchdowns, including four that were more than 50 yards. Stephens scored the first of the Kingsmen's nine touchdowns on a 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter.

He then put on a spectacular display in the second quarter, returning three punts for touchdowns. In a 64-second span, Stephens returned consecutive punts 75 and 55 yards for scores.

He added a 79-yard punt return in the final minute of the first half, giving Putnam a 42-0 halftime lead. Stephens took all three punts off one bounce while patiently waiting for an opening to break through.

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Prep football: Lessons learned for Liberty in loss at Putnam