Home Sports Arizona High School Football

Defending 6A Champion Liberty Looks to Rebound Against Red Mountain

Here's what you need to know about the Liberty vs Red Mountain matchup - Friday, October 9 at 7pm MT/9 pm CT.

liberty vs red mountain
Game Info

It’s week two of GameTime Arizona with another great matchup between the #14 and #16 ranked teams in the state: Liberty (0-1) vs Red Mountain (1-0) – Friday, October 9th at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm CT.

Here’s how to watch Liberty vs Red Mountain

Arizona Season Preview and Schedule of Games

The Liberty Lions and the Red Mountain Mountain Lions face off in a 2019 6A State Championship rematch on Friday night.

In the 2019 title game, Liberty got the win in overtime, 34-28, for the school’s first ever State Title.

This season, Liberty is under new leadership with head coach Colin Thomas after Mark Smith left to coach at his alma mater in California.

Check out the Players to Watch ahead of Liberty (0-1) vs Red Mountain (1-0) – Friday, October 9th at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm CT.

Players to Watch
Sr. SS/RB George Ramirez, 5’10” 185 Red Mountain

Ramirez has been up with the Mountain Lions Varsity team since he was a freshman. He played a whole season on the freshman squad, then was brought up in the playoffs due to an injury and started at strong safety.

Over the last three years, Ramirez has become a player that Red Mountain head coach Mike Peterson has come to rely on.

“He just keeps getting better and better,” Peterson said. “He’s so savvy with the game. He sees things that coaches see.”

Ramirez has offers from Northern Colorado, NAU, Colorado School of the Mines, and Southwest Minnesota State.

Jr. FS Jax Stam, 5’11” 200 – Liberty

As a sophomore, Stam averaged 7.5 tackles per game and finished the season with 105 total tackles, 44 solo and three sacks.

Last Friday against top ranked Chandler, Liberty couldn’t pull out the win, but Stam showed out with 14 total tackles, eight solo.

“Jax started as a freshman for us,” Thomas said. “(He’s) a veteran guy. We want to be a tough, physical football team and (he) embodies that to the core.”

Stam received his first Division I offer in April from New Mexico.

Sr. RB Naz Bryant, 5’11” 185 – Red Mountain

Last week against Westwood, Bryant had two rushing touchdowns for Red Mountain. Bryant is a player that Peterson expects to break out in 2020.

The running back recently received his first offer from Northern State in South Dakota.

“He works so hard,” Peterson said. “He has a great work ethic.”

So. RB/WR Zaccheus Cooper, 5’10” 190 Liberty 

Once Cooper got healthy in 2019, he made quite an impact for the Lions as a freshman.

Cooper totaled 669 rushing yards and four touchdowns in seven games. His addition towards the end of the season proved to be key for Liberty in their run to the State Title.

“When he got healthy last year, we became a way different team,” Thomas said. “He kind of led us to where we got to.”

Cooper received his first DI offer from New Mexico in April as well.

Here’s how to watch Liberty vs Red Mountain
Stay in the Loop
To get the latest updates, schedule changes, highlights and stories about Arizona high school sports, visit yurview.com and sign up for the Arizona High School Weekly Newsletter.
To get the latest recruiting buzz, listen to the Over the Middle weekly podcast featuring high school football recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree, available on iTunesStitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.