After stumbling in their Region 2A-AAAA opener against Richmond Hill last week, the Liberty County Panthers are headed to Brunswick to take on the Pirates at 7:30 tonight.
With the Panthers and Pirates still looking for their first region wins, Liberty County coach Kirk Warner said his team has been working on becoming more physical to wear down its opponent.
“I don’t think we were very physical (last week),” he said. “We started making strides against Statesboro, then we had the off week and it’s like we took a step back. We are working on fundamental tackling because we are definitely going to have to be able to tackle in open space against Brunswick. They have great, skilled guys, a great quarterback and a high-octane offense.”
Last year, the Pirates beat the Panthers, 26-14, in the first meeting between the two schools.
This season, Brunswick is 1-4 overall, while Liberty County comes in at 2-3.
With three more regular-season games and a subregion draw left on the Panthers’ schedule, Warner said he spoke to his players about making each game count.
“We got off to a slow start, but by no means is our season over,” he said. “We still control our own destiny, but we definitely need to get our first region win under our belt. It’s going to be a tough task going to Brunswick, but we’ve been in tough situations before.”
Senior running back Shadrach Thornton could break the 1,000-yard rushing mark tonight.
Thornton has 938 yards on 116 carries and eight touchdowns for the Panthers.
Brunswick opened the season ranked in the Top 10 in Class AAAA by the Associated Press. The Pirates’ only win is a 56-0 victory over Savannah High.