LUDOWICI - The Long County Blue Tide football team has done a lot of things over the last four seasons, but they have never done what they did in their last game. On Friday, September 13, the Blue Tide defeated next county region rival Liberty County 22-14 to move to 4-0 on the season.
With the win, the Tide are now 4-0 for the first time in team history and 3-0 in region play for the first time. The Panthers fall to 1-3 and 1-2 in region play.
It was homecoming and alumni night for the Tide as they welcomed in a large crowd to celebrate the festivities. The Panthers opened the night with the ball but both teams traded possessions, a three and out punt for Liberty County and a turnover on downs as the Panther 35 for the Tide.
The Panthers finally got a little something going as Jah’barri Felix found Jamauri Orr for 25 yards to the Tide 40. Mareon Montgomery came up with a sack on the next play to make it second and 15 from the 45.
After picking up 15 yards over the next two plays, the Panthers were helped by an unsportsmanlike penalty against the Tide to set them up at the 20.
Tyler Gamble came up with a tackle for loss to the 22 before Felix found Aaron Brown for 22 yards and the score to put the Panthers up 6-0 with 5:00 left in the quarter.
The teams traded three and outs before the Tide set up shop at the Panther 42 after a punt from deep in their own territory.
The first quarter came to a close with the Tide set up at the Panther 36. The Tide just kept eating away at the clock and the yards on the ground before Jaeson Carryl plunged in from a yard out to tie the game 6-6 with 7:02 left in the first half.
Another three and out got the Tide the ball back at the Liberty 47. Wyatt Huston completed one of his only big passes of the night as he found tight end Jayden Stone for 27 yards to the 20.
The Tide found their way back into the endzone as Jason Familia capped off the nearly four-minute drive with a 9-yard run to put the Tide up 14-6 after the two-point conversion.
It seemed like the last three minutes of the half took forever and yielded nothing, despite Felix finding Julian Gerena on a 17-yard gain and, after a Kenny Pickens sack, hitting Ryan Golden on a 53-yard pickup to the Tide 11.
Isaiah Miller and Jay’Quan Johnson both came up with sacks on first and second down to push the Panthers back to the 25 on third and long. This pushed them out of field goal range as the Tide went into the locker room up 14-6.
The Tide looked to go up two scores with the ball to start the second half, but a bad snap on third down was nearly costly for the Tide. They punted away as the Panthers took over at the Tide 34.
Felix found Brown for 12 yards to get inside the redzone and the Tide defense again was asked to come up with a big stop.
On fourth and 2, they did just that as the Tide forced a turnover on downs and the offense took over from their own 10. However, another three and out forced a punt as the Panthers took over at midfield.
Elijah Brown picked up 16 yards to the Tide 35 and the Panthers worked their way inside the Tide 10. Brown had a 9-yard TD run called back on a block in the back penalty.
On third and goal from the 13, Chase Bentley came up with a huge sack for no gain as the Panthers trudged out the field goal unit. Trey Aiello’s 30-yard attempt was blocked and the Tide took over from the 20 after the touchback.
A defensive holding call kept the Tide’s drive going on third and 7 as the third quarter came to a close. The fourth quarter started with another Tide punt - this time the team took a delay of game penalty to work more clock and set them up with a better punt position.
Huston’s punt rolled down inside the 20 as the Panthers took over from the 19. On third and five, Felix looked to the air again, but his pass was intercepted by Juju Clark to set the Tide up at the Panther 21.
Huston picked up nine to the Liberty 12 before a late hit penalty gave them another six yards. Carryl found his way into the endzone for the second time as the Tide went up 22-6.
Gamble came up with another tackle for loss at the Panther 41 before another Miller sack backed them up to the 36 for a third and 19.
Chris Hatfield came up with the Tide’s second interception of the night but it was negated by a defensive holding penalty to give the Panthers another chance.
On fourth and 1 from the Tide 47, Elijah Brown took the handoff and went all the way to the endzone to make the score 22-14 after the two-point conversion.
With 6:55 left on the clock, the Tide were content to try to run out the clock. A facemask penalty extended their drive a bit but they eventually were forced to punt.
Felix found Elijah Brown for 17 yards to the Tide 43 before a bad snap backed them up six yards to the 49.
A tackle for loss by Pickens and Miller made it third and 19. Felix nearly picked up all 19 yards as he set the Panthers up with a fourth and 1 from the Tide 35.
The defense came up with another stop as the Tide took over at their own 34 with just under two minutes left.
Again, the Tide were content to try to run the clock down but the Panthers had all three timeouts left. They used all three before the Tide punted back to the Panthers.
The Panthers took over from their own 29 with 54 seconds left. They looked to the air three times and on the fourth, Clark came up with a huge play to knock the ball away and force the turnover on downs.
The Tide finally ran out the clock and held on for the 22-14 victory.
Felix finished 14 of 26 for 202 yards passing and ran for another 20, and Elijah Brown ran 12 times for 104 yards. Aaron Brown had 65 yards on four receptions and Jaden Hurd caught two passes for 70 yards.
The Tide will be on the road Friday as they take on region foe Beach, a 51-7 loser to Jenkins, while the Panthers host the 0-4 Islands Sharks, coming off a 25-22 loss to Groves.
