BROOKLET - Playing on only four days rest, the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets didn’t show too many adverse effects as they jumped out to a 21-point lead and held off Liberty County 28-19 Tuesday night at Fred Shaver Field. 

SEB improved to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in Region 3-AAA play and earned head coach Jared Zito career victory number 100 in the process.

“Starting fast has been an issue for us and I thought we really started out great tonight,” Zito said. “We kind of wobbled a little in the second and third quarter, but we really showed our guts on defense and offense coming through in the fourth quarter."

The Jackets exploded for 21 points in the first quarter on a few big plays. Colby Smith took the opening kickoff 42 yards to the Liberty 41-yard line. Smith then capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to give SEB a 7-0 lead.

After forcing Liberty to punt on its first possession, the Jackets took over at the 19-yard line. On the next play from scrimmage, Jayden Murphy burst through the line and went 8 -yards for the touchdown, extending the lead to 14-0.

Liberty drove to the SEB 5-yard line on its next series but the Jackets knocked the ball loose and Trenton Jones recovered. The Jackets needed just two plays to go 95 yards – Colby Smith picked up the first 43, and Murphy went the final 52 for his second score of the quarter. Murphy and Smith each went over 100 yards rushing in the first quarter alone.

“We didn’t have any big plays last week, but Jayden and Colby gave us some big runs tonight,” Zito said. “Last week was the only game we didn’t have those kinds of big plays and in our offense, we have to have at least one or two of those a game to get points on the board.”

Liberty got on the board as quarterback Jah’Barri Felix scored on a 10-yard keeper to cut the lead to 21-7 at the half.

The Liberty defense continued to play solid in the third, and the offense added a 3-yard Felix sneak to trim the lead to 21-13. Southeast Bulloch finally got back into the end zone, with Smith scoring from 17 yards out on a fourth-and-4 in the fourth quarter.

Brandon Roberts added a 1-yard touchdown run for the Panthers, but the Yellow Jackets recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.

Liberty falls to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in region play. Up next, the Panthers travel to Savannah on October 24 to face Beach. The Yellow Jackets will travel to Long County next Friday.