HINESVILLE – The Long County Blue Tide built an 18-point halftime lead and held off a determined Liberty County rally in the fourth quarter to pull out a crucial 38-22 Region 3-AAA football win Friday night at Donell Woods Stadium.

The Blue Tide led 28-10 in the fourth quarter, but Ron Golden scored on a short touchdown run and after a Blue Tide fumble, Carlos Singleton hit Golden on a 33-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-22.

But Long County got the final score of the night with four minutes to go to seal the win.

Liberty opened the scoring when Singleton hit Jaden Hurd on a 71-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the game.

The Tide answered on Cortney Charles’ 23-yard touchdown run on their first possession. J.D. Manghane’s 2-yard run put the Tide in front 14-7.

Trey Aiello connected on a 34-yard field goal for the Panthers to cut the lead to 14-10 before Ahmari Douglas made an impact. The senior scored on a 77-yard burst down the Tide sidelines and added a 4-yard run with 3:34 left in the first half.

With the win, the Blue Tide improve to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the region. Liberty slipped to 2-6 on the season and 2-3 in the region. Long County hosts No. 1-ranked Calvary Day on October 27 and Liberty travels to face Beach next week.