(Photo: KCSports.net) It was late in the third quarter and Liberty faced a critical fourth-and-three. The Blue Jays trailed Olathe East at home, 13-7, and needed some points to keep their hopes of winning alive.

At such a critical point in the game Liberty, like so many times this year, gave the ball to Robert Rawie. The Blue Jays star running back converted the fourth down, found the end zone four plays later and never looked back in a 34-13 win on Friday night in Liberty.

“I think we were pretty resilient, kept to our game, and finally got the wind to our back in the fourth quarter,” Liberty head coach Chad Frigon said. “We’re able to convert some fourth downs. I know we struggled; I’ll give credit to the (Olathe East) defense. I thought they played really well, they’re a talented defensive football team.”

While the final score suggested a Liberty blowout win, it was actually Olathe East that led for much of the game. The Hawks got of to a quick start when they recovered their opening kickoff, thanks to a Liberty mistake. They quickly got on the scoreboard with a 35-yard field goal to go up, 3-0.

Olathe East shut down Rawie and the prolific Liberty rushing attack for much of the half and eventually took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter after a 53-yard touchdown pass.

The Hawks took a 13-7 lead into the half thanks to their stifling defense. Frigon said despite the first half struggles, Liberty was fortunate to go into the half with just a six-point deficit.

“For us, we faced some big adversity there when we messed up a kickoff return and gave them some short fields,” Frigon said. “To our defense's credit, they held them to two field goals and that was really what allowed us to stay in the game early.”

After a back-and-forth third quarter with little offense, Liberty found their stride. After the Rawie touchdown that put the Blue Jays up 14-13, the Liberty rushing attack took over.

Rawie found the end zone two more times in the fourth quarter, including a 78-yard scamper. Fellow running back Jack Lowery sealed the game late with his own 15-yard touchdown run.

For the night, Rawie piled up 226 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

“I told these guys this might have been a game we lost last year,” Frigon said. “In the middle of last season we lost back-to-back games and weren’t able to convert in games like this. So I’m hoping this shows that we’re mentally tougher and learned from what we did last year and it carries on the rest of the season.”

Liberty (5-0), ranked No. 10 in the 810 Varsity Top 25, will hit the road next week to take on Platte County while Olathe East (1-2) will take on Olathe South.