The West Liberty High School football team suffered their second loss of the season Friday at the hands of a talented Camanche Indian team that simply shut down the West Liberty offense.
The Indians handed the host Comets their first shutout of the season, taking the victory 20-0 at Memorial Field to give West Liberty a 3-2 season mark.
The Comets got possession of the ball to start the game. The teams traded punts in their opening possessions, before the Indians were able to break the deadlock late in the opening period, before returning to swapping punts.
The Indians than took a punt 70 yards to the endzone with about eight minutes remaining in the opening half. The Comets finally started to put a drive together before fumbling the ball back over the Indians. Senior Lake Newton returned the favor with an interception for West Liberty that included a 25-yard return.
The Comets drove the ball down the field before stalling and then missing a field goal attempt, failing to score in the first half as the Indians held a 13-0 halftime edge.
The second half started promisingly for the Comets as junior running back Jahsiah Galvan was able to record the Comets second interception for the night, halting a promising Indian drive.
But the Comets were unable to find any traction in the opening possession of the second half, forcing to punt the ball to Camanche.
The Indians scored once again on a swing pass deep in the Comet red-zone and take a 20-0 advantage. The teams traded possessions back and forth for the remainder of the ball game before the final horn sounded.
Prior to the game, the Newcomb family was honored along with first responders in West Liberty, in memory of Curt Newcomb, who died in March but had services on Sunday at the West Liberty Community Center.
The team takes on hosting Anamosa in more district competition this Friday before the homecoming game on Oct. 9 against Monticello.
Anamosa and West Liberty have had two common opponents this year. Anamosa, which is 1-4 on the season, lost to Maquoketa 20-14 while West Liberty fell to the Cardinals 27-6. Both teams also lost to Camanche, Anamosa going down 42-0 while West Liberty lost 20-0.