Section 4A Profile: Liberty Classical on Path for State

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Liberty Classical returns all of their pieces from a team that went 24-5 last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Super Summary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last March Heritage Christian earned a trip to state by defeating Liberty Classical 93-72 in the section final. It ended a 24-win season for the Lions but also offered up a taste of what is needed to make the state tournament. With everybody back - including jumping jack 27ppg scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2842383' first='Sam' last='Rupnow'], 20ppg scorer [player_tooltip player_id='1560883' first='Ethan' last='Richter'], and 12ppg scoring Cruz Triana - expectations for a section title are very high. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Especially considering that the Heritage Christian team that ended Liberty's season lost four starters who all started in two state tournaments. The Eagles will have a chance to three peat, they just have to find four new starters to join talented junior holdover Aaron Palmer as well as lead guard Griffin Booms. Heritage Christian is surely going to be in the mix as the other top contender, it's just a matter of the new line-up being able to match what last year's team was able to do to a Liberty team that has everything back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Any other potential contenders? 100 percent Hope Academy, even though they lost [player_tooltip player_id='2574749' first='Gideon' last='Horne'] to Richfield. The rest of the team returns and Hope had a 32-23 lead on Liberty last year in the section semi-final but ended up losing by eight (65-57). Jordan Moss, Braylon Peterson, and [player_tooltip player_id='2560537' first='Tyriek' last='Martin'] are among the players ready to show that this team was more than just Gideon. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 3 4A Players</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aaron Palmer of Heritage Christian</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560883' first='Ethan' last='Richter'] of Liberty Classical</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2842383' first='Sam' last='Rupnow'] of Liberty Classical</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Should Improve Their Record</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Liberty Classic (24-5 last season)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hope Academy (17-9 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ubah Medical (15-10 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><strong>Three Teams That Might Not Match Last Year's Win Total</strong></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Avail Academy (20-5 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trinity (13-15 a year ago)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CHOF (11-15 last season)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->