GILMER, Texas-The second season begins next week.
Liberty-Eylau throttled Gilmer, 54-42, Friday night at Jeff Traylor Stadium, snapping a 12-year drought.
"I'm proud of the way our kids fought tonight," Liberty-Eylau head coach Steve Wells said. "The first half didn't go how we planned it, but our kids stuck with it the whole game."
Marzavian Riles scored his fourth touchdown of the night on a 21-yard run and sealed the victory for the Leopards.
Riles finished with two grabs for 48 yards and a touchdown. He also ended with 18 totes for 154 yards and two touchdowns.
Isaiah Cross added to the Leopards lead in the rout on his 25-yard run in the fourth with 2:32 left in the contest.
Cross led the Leopards rushing with 14 carries for 174 yards and a touchdown.
Cross also completed 6 of 10 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns for the Leopards.
Riles put the game out of reach for the Leopards in the fourth quarter with his third touchdown of the night, on a 25-yard run.
"Offensively, we played well tonight," Wells. "We needed to gain some momentum heading into the playoffs. I told our kids we need to focus in on practice this week for the real season that begins next week."
Cedric Dickerson gave the Leopards a cushion with his 1-yard dive in the fourth quarter with 5:48 left in the game.
Liberty-Eylau took it's first lead of the game when Shayne Porche caught a 49-yard strike from Cross to put the Leopards up, 27-21.
Porche finished with three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.
Cross tied the game at 21-all after his 3-yard plunge in the end zone for Liberty-Eylau.
"I'm excited for our kids and our program," Wells said. "We had some penalties in the first half. We had two touchdowns called back that hurt us. We had too many turnovers. We'll work on that this week in practice."
El-Amin Greer and Shannon Roy snagged interceptions for the Leopards defense.
Lakken Stuart recovered a fumble for Liberty-Eylau in the first half.
Bran Webb gave Gilmer some cushion with his 21-yard dash to the end zone with 4:06 remaining before intermission,
Riles scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard dive after the Leopards forced a Gilmer turnover.
Riles put the Leopards on the board with his 35-yard reception from Cross with 0:26 on the scoreboard to cut into the Gilmer lead, 14-7.
Darryl Bush scored Gilmer's second touchdown of the game on his 10-yard dive in the first quarter with 1:00 remaining.
Jaydon Griffin put the Buckeyes on the scoreboard first with his 25-yard interception return in the first quarter with 8:06 on the clock.
#
Liberty-Eylau 7 6 14 27 56
Gilmer 14 7 0 21 42
First Quarter
GHS-Jaydon Griffin 25 interception return (Lukas Enloe kick), 8:06
GHS-Darryl Bush 10 run (Enloe kick), 1:00
LE-Marzavin Riles 35 pass from Isaiah Cross (Gregorio Aguilar kick), 0:26
Second Quarter
LE-Riles 1 run (kick failed), 10:07
GHS-Bran Webb 21 run ( Enloe kick), 4:06
C. Third Quarter
LE-Cross 3 run (Cross pass to Shannon Roy), 7:14
LE-Shayne Porche 49 pass from Cross (run failed), 2:25
Fourth Quarter
LE-Cedric Dickerson 1 run (pass failed), 5:48
GHS-Zach Jordan 1 run (Enloe kick), 4:28
LE-Riles 25 run (Aguilar kick), 2:48
LE-Cross 25 run (Aguilar kick), 2:31
GHS-Tra Fluellen 28 pass from Cade Camp (Enloe kick), 1:56
LE-Riles 24 run (Aguilar kick), 1:45
GHS-Christian Fluellen 4 run (Enloe kick), 1:02
=Liberty-Eylau=Gilmer
First Downs=11=16
Yards Rushing=47-401=48-247
Yards Passing=127=161
Passes A-C-I=10-6-1=29-15-2
Fumbles-Lost=4-1=1-1
Penalties=8-50=10-75
Punts-Avg.=1-20.0=3-25.7
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Liberty-Eylau, Riles 18-154, Cross 14-174, C. Dickerson 13-75, Roy 1-4, Templeton 1-(minus 6).
Gilmer, Webb 22-116, Bush 16-98, B. Jordan 1-8, C. Fluellen 4-13, Shed 3-9, Hurt 1-2, A. Jordan 1-1.
PASSING-Liberty-Eylau, Cross 6-10-1-127.
Gilmer, Camp 15-29-2-161.
RECEIVING-Liberty-Eylau, Riles 2-48, Porche 3-65, Williams 1-14.
Gilmer, C. Fluellen 1-4, T. Fluellen 4-53, D. Fluellen 4-27, Webb 4-60, Shed 2-17.