BROOKLET – A decisive second half carried the Liberty County Panthers to their fourth straight win.

The Panthers held the host Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets to just 68 yards of offense in the final two quarters, and Liberty County posted a 28-14 win over SEB on Friday night at Fred Shaver Field.

With the win, the Panthers improved to 5-3 on the season and 4-0 in Region 3-AAAA. SEB slipped to 3-5 for the season and 1-3 in the region.

Liberty trailed 14-7 at the half, after Aaden Peterson’s 1-yard run with 28 seconds left in the second quarter. But the Panthers answered on their first two possessions of the second half to take the lead for good.

Ja’eir Roberts, who ran for three scores and threw for another, darted 28 yards up the middle on the Panthers’ first drive of the second half to tie the game 14-14. He capped a 68-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jahair Rodriguez to give Liberty a 20-14 lead with 2:43 to go in the third quarter.

Rodriguez then outbattled two SEB defenders to haul in Caheim Anderson’s two-point conversion pass following a bad snap.

Roberts’ 1-yard sneak with less than a minute to play sealed the win.

SEB scored on the game’s opening possession, with Jordan Dawson sweeping around the left side for a 4-yard scoring run. Roberts scored from 5 yards out early in the second quarter, with Noel Best’s 70-yard burst setting up the score.

For more, see the October 22 edition of the Courier or return to coastalcourier.com.