GARDEN CITY – It was close to everything Liberty County Panthers football coach Tony Glazer wanted from a first scrimmage.

The Panthers didn’t get any serious injuries, didn’t make many glaring mistakes and yet gave their coaches enough to go over on film before the coming scrimmage against Bradwell Institute – all while scoring on six of seven first-half possessions and holding Groves to one first down, via a penalty, Friday night at Garden City Stadium.

“We wanted to come out and execute, make sure nobody gets hurt, make sure everybody gets in,” Panthers coach Tony Glazer said. “It was a good evaluation tool for us. Trying to get good film for the big one. We’re fortunate. We played pretty clean ball and we saw some things we need to fix.”

Noel Best and Aaron Brown each ran for two scores, and Jaeir Roberts ran for a score and threw for another as the Panthers dominated the varsity portion of the scrimmage.

Roberts’ 1-yard sneak capped a drive that took 3:07 to open the contest and Brown, also Liberty’s top returning receiver, cut back across the field and stepped through several Rebels defenders attempted tackles for a 52-yard TD run.

Best got his first score of the night on a 15-yard run, with the linemen pushing the pile – and Best – the final seven yards into the end zone.

Best plowed in from 1 yard out on the next possession, and Brown, cut off by the Groves defense, spun and reversed field to score on a 7-yard run, and Roberts capped the scoring with a touchdown pass as time expired to end the half.

“We were revving up on offense and we weren’t even going at full speed,” Glazer said. “We have four running backs we feel very confident in.”

Groves scored in the No. 2 and JV portion of the scrimmage, on Shawn Porter’s 90-yard interception return.

While Liberty’s first-team offense scored on six of seven first-half possessions, the defense held the Rebels to three three-and-outs in the first quarter alone. Their only first down came on a third-down pass interference call.

“The defense was flying around and hitting,” Glazer said. “I was proud of the way we were rallying to the ball. We were playing fast, physical and aggressive, which is our motto on that side of the ball.”

It’s essentially the same defense – and philosophy – the Panthers have had since then future NFL player Raekwon McMillian led the unit.

“The players change,” Glazer said, “but the motto never does.”

The Panthers offense also incurred two holding penalties in the first half but overcame each of those for touchdowns.

“It gave us something to fix,” Glazer said. “We have plenty on film we can fix to try to get better this week than what we were last week.”

Liberty and Bradwell meet this Friday night in a preseason scrimmage at Olvey Field for the Commissioners Cup and the Panthers open the 2026 season August 21 at Wayne County.