HINESVILLE – It was just the kind of defense Tony Glazer had been expecting from his Liberty County Panthers since the start of the season

The Panthers limited Southeast Bulloch to 2 of 9 on third-down conversions and gutted out a 10-7 win Region 3-AAA Friday night at Donell Woods Stadium/Kirk Warner Field. The loss dropped the Yellow Jackets to 3-3 on the season and 3-2 in the region, while the Panthers improved to 5-1 on the year and 3-1 in the region.

“This was the defense we expected all year,” Glazer said. “I told them, ‘I need the first half against Bradwell defense, and I need the second half against Long County defense, and if we get that, we’re going to be all right. We gave up one bad play to a really good offense.”

Colby Smith’s 79-yard burst up the middle set up SEB’s only score late in the first half. The Jackets got a fourth-down conversion when the Panthers jumped offsides, and three plays later, Jayden Murphy powered in from 2 yards out with 16 seconds remaining in the first half.

But the Panthers took the second half kickoff and marched 77 yards in 15 plays, converting five third downs along the way. The drive, which drained 8 minutes and 12 seconds off the clock, ended with Elijah Brown’s 4-yard touchdown run.

“The difference was that drive,” Zito said. “They took the momentum and wore us down a little bit.”

Brown sparked the Panthers’ next drive, which ended with Aidan Ronk’s 27-yard field goal with 3:48 to play in the game. Brown, quiet for much of the first half, ran 18 times for 90 yards in the second half alone. He finished with 113 yards.

But as the Panthers attempted to run out the clock, Brown fumbled at the SEB 31 with 3:13 left. A holding call set the Yellow Jackets back, and the Panthers defense forced a fourth-down stop to seal the game.

“Our kids played their tails off and they were physical,” Glazer said. “They hit and they hit and they hit.”

SEB committed eight penalties on offense and also turned the ball over twice, including a fumble at the Liberty 39-yard line to end a threat.

“In the two previous losses we’ve had to Liberty since I’ve been at Southeast, that was the recipe, turnovers and penalties,” SEB coach Jared Zito said. “You can’t score a lot of points when you turn the ball over or when you have penalties every couple of plays.”

SEB held Liberty to only 45 yards in the first half, but the Panthers limited the Jackets to just 35 yards of offense and two first downs in the second half. Liberty also held the ball for 15:48 over the final two quarters.

“We came out and thought the way they were lined up, we could get the passing game working,” Glazer said. “And we didn’t have as much success as we were hoping. But we knew how physical we were being on both sides of the ball. At halftime we decided we were going to get under center, bow our necks and run right at them. And that’s what we did.”

With the region record, and the overall record, the Panthers also are closing on a playoff spot that eluded their grasp a year ago.

“This is a big win for us. We want to keep the momentum going,” Glazer said.