If the third time is the charm, what would the fourth time be?

For Peoria Liberty, Saturday night’s Open semifinal contest against Gilbert Highland was the fourth straight year the Lions reached the final four, with the previous three contests concluding with season-ending losses.

This time, the Lions were not having any of that.

Backed by yet another epic performance by quarterback Navi Bruzon, Liberty stormed out to a snappy 26-0 lead as time expired in the first quarter enroute to a 54-12 demolition of the Hawks.

The win sends the Lions (11-1) into Saturday night’s Open championship game versus their bitter west side rival Peoria Centennial, a team the Lions defeated 36-17 the final week of the season.

“A big part of this game was kinda dictating the pace because we have contrasting styles,” said Liberty coach Colin Thomas. “To go up two quick scores, I thought we kind of set the pace to the game.”

The quick scores all began with Bruzon.

After capping an 8-play, 65-yd drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, the first of three on the ground for the senior, Liberty struck back again very quickly.

Lions linebacker Keaton Stamm picked off Hawks’ quarterback Kalen Fisher on their second play from scrimmage.

Moments later, Bruzon engineered another quick score with back-to-back passes of 18 and 17 yards, highlighting a 5-play drive that ended with a 1-yard plunge by Jon Wilson (11 carries, 86 yards).

Suddenly, it was 13-0 less than five minutes into the game, and they were far from done.

Bruzon found Braylon Gardner (6 catches, 130 yards) for 62 yards on the Lions’ very next drive, and Zane Tallman’s punt block, followed by his beautiful scoop and score, left Highland in an insurmountable 26-0 hole after just one quarter.

“(Liberty) just played at a higher level tonight. They were faster, they were more physical, and they executed better,” Highland Coach Brock Farrel said. “They were better tonight, there is no ifs ands or buts about it.”

The Hawks (9-3) attempted to make a game of it a few minutes into the second quarter when Fisher capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Crew Crandall, cutting the Lions’ lead to 26-6.

But Bruzon and company were focused like a laser beam, finally getting over the Open semifinals hump and wouldn’t be denied.

A second Bruzon TD run, this one from 3 yards out again, and then a 32-yard pass down the left sidelines to Ryan Wolfer (3 catches, 56 yards), extended the Liberty lead to 41-6 at intermission.

Highland’s Jay Martin (13 carries, 116 yards) scored on the second play of the second half during an impressive 75-yard touchdown run off left tackle, making it 41-12.

But a second Highland blocked punt, this time collected by Liberty’s Owen Dalton, that led to a 2nd scoop and score (by Jacob Dominquez), and a 10-yard rushing TD by Bruzon, would close out the scoring for the Lions.

“We played a great game. Highland is a great team,” Bruzon stated. “This (championship) is the last game I am playing with my brothers so it will definitely be fun."

Bruzon finished 16-of-17 for 245 passing yards and carried 14 times for another 71 more yards, having a hand in five of the eight scores.