Liberty-eylau shows improvement during Homecoming game
TEXARKANA, Texas — Liberty-eylau’s Homecoming was bittersweet.
The Leopards led Mount Pleasant at halftime before four lightning delays eventually caused a “no contest” as the varsity football game was canceled.
Mount Pleasant stays unbeaten at 2-0 and Liberty-eylau is 0-2 after the game’s cancellation.
Liberty-eylau led 12-7 and, despite the small lead, seemed to have momentum on its side during Friday’s contest.
“We had a good week of preparation and our kids were fired up for the game,” Leopards’ head coach Dewaski Davis said. “They came out, made a statement early and we are proud of them.”
Dequane Prevo took the opening kickoff back on an 87-yard return touchdown. Prevo turned on the jets, broke slightly to his left as he found an opening and went into the end zone untouched. The Leopards took a 6-0 lead with 11:41 left in the firs quarter.
Mount Pleasant edged past Liberty-eylau, 7-6, on a 20-yard run up the middle with 6:20 to go in the first quarter.
Greg London made a juke move and bounced out to his left as he scored from 9 yards out to give the Leopards a 12-7 lead with 19 seconds left in the first period.
“We knew we would be able to run the football against them and Greg made some pretty good cuts. He did good at maneuvering through traffic. We moved some people around and it paid off.”
The Liberty-eylau defense held solid as it forced a fourth down midway through the second quarter with the Tigers on the Leopards’ 18-yard line. Mount Pleasant missed a 35-yard field goal as the score stayed in favor of L-E, 12-7, going into halftime.
Liberty-eylau’s Carter Stanley made a solid tackle on the Mount Pleasant return man on the ensuing kickoff after Prevo’s score.
W.T. Jones had a crunching tackle on the Tigers’ quarterback on a designed run to keep Mount Pleasant short of a first down. The Tigers had to punt on their first possession.
On the first L-E scoring drive, London broke free off
a spin move and picked up 27 yards on a run to get the ball down to the Mount Pleasant 32 in the first quarter.
Two plays later, QB Britain Pipes hit Prevo for 21 yards to take it to the 16. London gained 9 yards on a run on the next play as the Leopards sat upon the Tiger 8. After a loss of a yard, London found the end zone from 9 yards away to give Liberty-eylau a 5-point advantage.
Gabe Jarvis imprinted part of his shoulder pad upon a Mount Pleasant return man’s chest pad on a highlight tackle late in the second quarter.
The Leopards’ physicality on defense was noticeably at a higher level than in the previous game against Paris.
“Our coaches challenged the defense. We showed tonight what we’re going to do the rest of the season,” Davis said. “Our kids were mentally ready to play tonight and they responded well. The coaches did a heckuva job preparing them.”
Liberty-eylau plays at Atlanta next Friday night in another non-district game.
Olivia Rubio was named Homecoming Queen prior to the game.