SAVANNAH – It was quite a week for the Liberty County Panthers football team.
They met the vice president Wednesday – and they picked up their first win of the season in dramatic fashion Friday night.
Jah’barri Felix hit Julian Gerena with a 2-yard touchdown pass with 4.7 seconds left in the game, lifting the Panthers to a 20-19 win over Windsor Forest at Islands High School Stadium.
The scoring pass capped a dramatic and tense final drive that started at the Liberty 34yard line with 1:58 to go. It also gave Liberty a win in its Region 3-AAA opener.
“We needed this one,” Panthers coach Tony Glazer said. “Football is a game of momentum and building confidence. And if this doesn’t build confidence, I don’t know what will. At numerous times, this game could have gotten away from us, and the kids kept fighting.
“We just kept fighting,” Glazer continued. “Unfortunately for them, somebody had to lose. Both teams played their hearts out. I’ve been on the wrong end of us quite a few times. I told our boys, enjoy the win – they’re hard to come by.”
Jaden Hurd outfought two defenders to haul in a 33yard pass to the Knights 20. But after a bad snap, the Panthers faced a third-and-25 before Felix scrambled, and the first-year quarterback shook off a host of tacklers for a 17yard gain. His pass on fourth down went incomplete, but a Knights penalty gave the Panthers a first down.
On third-and-goal, Felix rolled right and found Gerena on an out route for the game-winner.
“We knew with 8 seconds, we wanted to get two balls off,” Glazer said of the last-second scenario. “We got a big stop on defense and we told our offense ‘it’s now or never.’ We made some plays. They made some plays early on. Fortunately for us, we made the last big play.”
Windsor Forest’s Anthony Williams hit Jayden Thomas for a 42-yard score on the Knights’ first drive of the game, but the Panthers answered on Brandon Roberts’ 5-yard run with 5:33 left in the first half. Trey Aiello’s point after gave Liberty a 7-6 lead.
Williams struck again after the Knights recovered a Panthers fumble on Liberty’s initial second-half drive. He scored from 12 yards out, twisting his way with a pile of Liberty defenders on him, for a 13-7 lead with 7:43 remaining in the third quarter.
Liberty answered again, as Felix scored on a 10-yard run. Kamron Pittman’s fingertip catch and 26-yard reception on third-and-6 set up the score and the 14-13 lead.
“At one point in time, I thought we were going to put our foot on the gas,” Glazer said. “I think we grew up tonight. We can make plays when they’re there. We have a young football team. We have to make it possession by possession.”
Windsor, though, struck what looked to be a haymaker late in the third quarter. The Knights blocked a punt and recovered at the Panthers 32. After the Liberty defense held and Windsor lined up for a field goal, a motion penalty set them back another five yards.
This time, the Knights went for it – and Izayiah Cooper’s shot put-like pass found Jaysen Jackson for a 31-yard TD with 1:39 to go in the third.
Liberty’s defense, however, held, even after the Knights picked off a Panthers pass and on their next possession, converted a third-and-11 on Cooper’s 20-yard run.
“Three guys had him in the backfield,” Glazer said of the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Cooper. “So it was not a lack of us not being in position. It was a lack of us not getting him to the ground. He’s big.”
The Panthers run defense, though, recorded nine stops for no gain or a loss of yardage, not including two sacks. Liberty also knocked the Knights for losses on each of their final three plays from scrimmage.
“We knew what they were going to attack,” Glazer said, “but once we got here, we thought our initial plan would stop it, but it didn’t, so we had to make an adjustment. We basically took the run away.”
The Panthers host Jenkins, coming off a 58-0 rout of Groves. The Warriors, 1-1 so far in 2024, went 5-8 last year, falling to powerhouse Cartersville in the third round of the Class 6A playoffs.
“We have a big test with Jenkins coming up,” Glazer said.