Hawk quarterback Ryan Ogas does a decleater tackle lifting Union Mine off the ground.

GALT, CA (MPG) - The Liberty Ranch Hawks went into halftime unhappy with an eight-point lead. They came out of the locker room and scored 24 points.

Behind a ground game that piled up 377 rushing yards, Liberty Ranch beat Union Mine 38-14 on Oct. 2, at home. The Hawks are now 2-0 in league play and alone in first place.

"Going into half, the whole team was not happy that we weren't up as much as we wanted to be," senior running back Andrew Quinn said. "We didn't play the way we wanted to. After half, Coach Schro gave us a speech and we just came out hot, ready."

Wyatt Correia makes his way to score.

Quinn put the Hawks on the board early, scoring with 9:48 left in the first quarter. Hunter Owen's extra point made it 7-0, and the score stayed that way through the end of the first quarter.

Union Mine answered in the second. After a Liberty Ranch punt, the Diamondbacks scored with 7:33 left in the half. They went for two, but Owen intercepted the conversion pass to keep the Hawks ahead 7-6.

Both teams then struggled to move the ball. Liberty Ranch punted again, and Union Mine gave the ball right back. The Hawks made them pay with 53 seconds left in the half, when Quinn ran in his second touchdown to make it 14-6 at the break.

Whatever Coach Warren Schroeder said at halftime worked. Liberty Ranch drove to the Union Mine 10-yard line on its first possession of the third quarter. The drive stalled there, and Owen kicked a 24-yard field goal with 9:33 left in the quarter to make it 17-6.

A hard-to-tackle Andrew Quinn makes his way towards the end zone.

The defense forced a Union Mine punt, and the Hawks struck fast. Senior Wyatt Corriea broke free up the middle and ran it in, making it 24-6 with 5:20 left in the third. Corriea finished with 74 yards on just four carries, an average of 18.5 yards per carry, including a long of 35.

Corriea nearly set up another score on the next drive. He caught a pass and took it all the way to the 10-yard line, but a penalty wiped out the play and Liberty Ranch was forced to punt. Union Mine took advantage, scoring a long touchdown with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. This time the two-point conversion was good, and the Diamondbacks were back within two scores.

That was as close as they would get. Senior Joe Lara shook off several tacklers on his way to a touchdown with 10:41 left in the game, pushing the lead to 31-14. Lara scored again later in the fourth quarter to finish off the 38-14 win.

The Hawks barely needed to throw. Senior quarterback Ryan Ogas completed 2 of 4 passes for 9 yards and added 39 rushing yards on three carries. Liberty Ranch ran the ball 42 times for 377 yards, an average of 9.0 yards per carry, with five rushing touchdowns.

Hawk Hunter Owen intercepts Union Mine’s two-point conversion.

Quinn and Lara each finished with 121 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Quinn got his on 18 carries and Lara on 15, including a long run of 47 yards. Owen added 22 rushing yards and went a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points along with his field goal, scoring eight points.

Quinn gave the credit to the players up front. The offensive line had 13 pancake blocks: Soni Takafua had five, Ryan Guthrie had four, Daniel Swearingen had two, and Culter Perez and Quinn each had one.

"We have the best line in the league, and they did their jobs well," Quinn said. "I love them."

Quinn was just as busy on defense. He led the Hawks with 19 tackles (10 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. He also punted four times for a 41.0-yard average, with a long of 58 and one inside the 20.

Enzo Diaz runs with the ball.

When asked about his motivation, Quinn pointed back to a loss from earlier in his career.

"It all comes back to sophomore year when they put our noses in the dirt," Quinn said. "That's where the fire comes from."

Senior Deshaun Jackson had nine tackles, a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss and the Hawks' only sack. Junior Jack Rowe had eight tackles and a quarterback hurry. Corriea and Swearingen each had eight tackles, and Enzo Diaz broke up two passes. Junior Jesus Posada forced a fumble. In all, the Hawks had 84 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss.

Schroeder praised the opponent and liked how his team responded after halftime.

"Union Mine is a well-coached team that gave us some valuable work and exposed some things we need to work on," Schroeder said. "I am proud of the way our players responded to some adversity and came out with a renewed focus in the second half."

Liberty Ranch (2-0 league) is home again Oct. 9 against Amador.