HINESVILLE - There have been a lot of firsts for the Long County Blue Tide since Mike Pfiester arrived. On Friday, Oct 20, that ringed true again as they defeated the Liberty County Panthers for the first time in team history.
The Blue Tide held on for a 36-22 win at Donell Woods Stadium. With their first win over the Panthers in team history, the Tide are now 5-3 and 3-2 in the region. They now put themselves in a great position to make the playoffs for the third straight season.
The Tide will host number one ranked Calvary Day next Friday while the Panthers travel to play Beach in Savannah.
The game started off hot for the Panthers as they scored just over a minute into the game. On third and long, Panther quarterback Carlos Singleton found receiver Jaden Hurd open down his sideline.
Hurd went the rest of the 71 yards for the early 7-0 lead.
The Tide faced a third and long after an intentional grounding penalty. Sophomore running back Dylan Tyler had other plans as he took the handoff and went 32 yards into Panther territory.
The Blue Tide used this momentum to continue working their way down the field before another sophomore finished off the drive. On fourth and 1, Cortney Charles went 23 yards untouched for the touchdown to make the score 7-6 after the failed two-point conversion.
The Tide started their next drive with a 22-yard pass from Jashaun Manghane to Keshawn Smith into plus territory.
Back-to-back 16 and 25 yard runs from Charles set the Tide up with a first and goal. On the next play, Manghane scored on a keeper and put the Tide up 14-7 after the two-point conversion.
Smith came up with a big play on defense for the Tide as he got under a deep pass and pulled down an interception late in the first quarter.
As the first quarter came to a close, however, the Tide coughed up the ball on a fumble, setting the Panthers up at the Tide 39.
Singleton hit Hurd on a short screen pass that turned into 23 yards into the redzone. A penalty and a tackle for loss by Chase Bentley set up a third and long at the Tide 23.
The Panthers had to settle for a Trey Aiello field goal from 35 yards out to make the score 14-10.
It took the Tide all of three plays to get back into the endzone. Ahmari Douglas made the biggest play of the night as he took a handoff and went 77 yards down his own sideline for the touchdown to put the team up 20-10 with 6:55 left in the half.
It was four and out for the Panthers as they were forced to punt from the 41. Singleton faked the punt and found a man down field, but the pass was bobbled and dropped as the Tide took over from there.
The Tide worked their way inside the 10 yard line on a 15 yard run by Douglas and a 13 yard completion to Chris Hatfield.
Douglas took the handoff on the next play and walked into the endzone to put the Tide up 28-10 with 3:34 left until halftime.
On a first down from the Tide 49, Singleton looked down the field as the Panthers tried to cut into the Tide’s lead. He found Hatfield, however, who picked up his third interception of the season.
In the third quarter, the Tide got the ball at their own 23 and drove down to the Panther 35. However, back to back bad snaps led to a fourth and long back in their own territory, forcing a punt.
On second and 25, Singleton found room to run on a scramble and picked up 23 yards to around midfield. The Panthers drove down inside the Tide 10 before Singleton looked to the air again.
He was forced out of the pocket and a big hit by Wyatt Huston forced a fumble and recovery for the Tide. On the first play, however, Charles fumbled again, giving the Panthers the ball at the Tide 13.
Early in the fourth quarter, Ron Golden plunged his way into the endzone from 2 yards out. A botched snap on the extra point made the score 28-16 with 10:29 left to play.
On the first play of the next drive for the Tide, a fumbled snap gave the ball back to the Panthers well into Tide territory. On the first play for the Panthers, Singleton hit Jeremiah Payne for 33-yard touchdown to make the score 28-22 with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
The Tide finally got their bearings in the second half as they went on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that stretched over six minutes. Douglas capped off the drive with a 34-yard touchdown run to make the score 36-22 with 3:57 left to go in the game.
The Panthers went four and out as the Tide took over from the Panther from the Liberty 30 and ran the rest of the clock out.