There is a lot to look at – and correct – from the video of Liberty County’s loss to McIntosh County Academy on Friday.
On a night of mistakes, one of Liberty County’s final miscues proved to be the final difference on the scoreboard. The Panthers, who trailed much of the night, fell 20-19 to the McIntosh County Academy Buccaneers on Friday night at Donell Woods Stadium. The loss dropped the Panthers to 1-3 on the season while the Bucs improved to 3-1.
While the Panthers are off this week and open Region 3-AAAA play September 25 at home against New Hampstead, coach Tony Glazer said they will look at “everything” during the break. He called the loss disappointing “in all kinds of ways.”
“The way we played, we deserved to lose,” he said. “We made every mistake you can make.”
The Panthers led 19-18 with 4:57 to go in the game but a bad snap eluded punter Noel Best and eventually wobbled out of the end zone, giving the Bucs a safety and the lead again. Liberty’s ensuing two possessions came up empty, with the Bucs also getting a second interception from a defensive lineman to snuff out a drive.
Liberty took a 19-18 lead when Best powered in from 4 yards out with 10:42 to go, capping a drive set up when the Bucs had an errant snap on a punt attempt.
Ja’eir Roberts connected with Caheim Anderson on a 30-yard TD pass to complete Liberty’s first drive of the second half, bringing the Panthers within 18-13.
“We figured out the defense at halftime,” Glazer said. “The offense got rolling a little bit and we had some penalties that backed us up.”
Josh Griffin ended MCA’s opening drive of the game with a 4-yard touchdown run, but the Panthers answered right back, as Aaron Brown hauled in a 41-yard scoring strike from Roberts.
But Liberty’s offense mustered only one first down the rest of the half, and the Bucs went back in front when Panthers quarterback Jack Jacobsen was hit while throwing, and the Bucs George Campbell plucked the fluttering pass out of the air, rambling 44 yards for a touchdown.
MCA marched 71 yards in 11 plays, consuming the final 4:18 of the first half as Earnest McIntosh scored from 1 yard out on the last play of the half for an 18-6 lead.
The teams combined for 22 accepted penalties, and the Panthers were called for offensive pass interference three times. While the Panthers overcame the first call, on their first drive, the second one preceded the Bucs’ defensive score and the final one – which if called the other way would have put them at the MCA 24 on the second drive of the second half – instead pushed them back across midfield after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was tacked on after the Panthers coaches’ protest.
“I’ve never seen three offensive pass interference calls against one team,” Glazer lamented, “but it is what it is. We didn’t play well enough to win.”
Griffin ran 15 times for 118 yards and Blake McMahan completed two of three passes for 39 yards. The Bucs ran for 259 yards.
Best had 69 yards on 15 carries as the Panthers put up 228 yards of total offense.
While the punt snap safety led to the final points, it wasn’t the reason the Panthers lost, Glazer contended.
“That safety, that was tough. We had control of field position in the second half. The game that led up to that determined us losing by one point. We had the lead. We fixed some things on defense. We put ourselves in this position throughout the entire game. We played hard. But at the end of the day, we made way too many mistakes throughout the course of the game.”
