Liberty County High School opened Region 3-AAAA action Friday at Wayne County, where the Yellow Jackets shut out the Panthers, 29-0.
Yellow Jacket quarterbacks Nick Belz and Seth Clary and running back Anfernee Jordan propelled the Wayne County team to victory with Jordan scoring twice in the first quarter. Clary tossed a touchdown pass to make it a 20-0 game at the half.
The Panthers had too many costly errors — especially in the red zone — forcing them to punt, which frequently gave Wayne County a short field and quick access to the end zone.
Panther Richard LeCounte did have a 32-yard kickoff return, and Jacquez Williams made a huge gain, placing the Panthers near the Yellow Jackets’ goal line. However, penalties also wreaked havoc on the Panthers, and the team couldn’t push the ball forward to score.
At one point, LCHS faced fourth and two. The offense tried to fake the Yellow Jackets with a long-snap count, but Wayne County didn’t bite. The Panthers punted the ball away again, giving the Wayne team a short field.
Panther quarterback Walker Franklin was 10-of-19 for 82 passing yards and had two interceptions.
Williams had three receptions for 46 yards; Gyri Durant and LeCounte made three receptions each, and Chris Helvie had one.
The rushing-yard stats had not been posted online by the Courier’s press deadline, but the Panthers didn’t generate many positive-ground yards in the loss.
Liberty falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the region. The Panthers have a bye week next Friday and will travel to Burke County on Oct. 10 for another region contest.