Pleasant Grove and Liberty-Eylau's in-town rivalry game was hard fought by both teams.
The Hawks got off to a fast start, but the Leopards put up 32 points in the second quarter to seal their first victory of the season.
"They had a blocked punt and we had a turnover on the kickoff and those two things put us in the hole, 14-0," Liberty-Eylau head coach Steve Wells said. "I was proud of the way our kids battled back. They came back strong in the third quarter."
In the first quarter, Pleasant Grove's Bobby Cooks blocked a punt, and Ryan Pickelman recovered. T.J. Cole capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
"I think T.J. Cole is playing well," Pleasant Grove head coach Josh Gibson said. "Cole is doing a good job managing the game, and he is a physical runner."
After the score, Liberty-Eylau fumbled the kickoff and the Hawks' Tyler Allen recovered. Cole scored from a yard out as PG capitalized on the turnover.
"I felt like we played hard," Gibson said. "We got better from the week before and that's the goal. We played a really good team, and our kids played better and harder."
Wells said that the Leopards are going to continue to work on some issues, and he commended Gibson's team.
"We are going to look to improve on not getting the chop block penalties," Wells said. "We have to do a better job protecting and getting the ball off a bit quicker. Pleasant Grove got an onside kick, and they got a couple of calls that helped them pull to within three. Our kids did a good job of putting it away in the end. Coach Josh Gibson did a great job of getting his kids ready."
L-E's Kameron Levingston had four touchdown runs and ran the ball 11 times for 172 yards. Teammate Deandre Hoof toted the ball four times for 74 yards.
"Liberty-Eylau has two really good offensive linemen on the edge along with good running backs," Gibson said. "I think they are more athletic in space than we are."
The Leopards' offensive line did well opening lanes for Levingston and Hoof and protecting quarterback Decorian Phillips, who had 198 yards passing.
"I was really proud of our offensive line," Wells said. "Levingston had a heck of a game along with Hoof. We did a good job offensively."
Gibson said that the Hawks played tough throughout the game. Pleasant Grove had some chances to win, but Liberty-Eylau prevailed behind a strong second quarter.
"We had opportunities to win the game, it just didn't go our way," Gibson said. "We're going to keep working on getting better. I think we can play with anyone, we just have to figure out a way to win those kinds of games."
Liberty-Eylau (1-4) has a bye this Friday, while Pleasant Grove (1-3) travels to Royce City, Texas, to take
on Krum.