RICHMOND HILL--Liberty County scored 25 points before Richmond Hill ever picked up a first down, en route to a 32-13 win to spoil the Wildcats' homecoming Friday night.
The Panthers were led by sophomore Shadrach Thornton's 160 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries.
"Last year he showed some glimpses that he could be a real good running back," said Liberty County coach Kirk Warner. "Coming into this season we didn't know if he could be a 20 to 25 carry-per-game back, but he has definitely answered the bell, and we are going to ride him through the playoffs."
For a while, the Panthers' (7-3 overall, 4-2 Region 3-AAA) scores came in rapid succession.
The first came when quarterback Julian Stokes took the ball in from 2 yards out with 6:39 left to play in the first quarter. Matt Desbiens' kick was good.
The Wildcats (3-6, 0-5) fumbled on their first play from scrimmage after the kickoff. Thornton scored one play later on a 9-yard run. The point after failed.
On the first play of the second quarter, Cody French hit a 28-yard field goal to put the Panthers ahead by 16.
On the Wildcats' next possession, Liberty's linebacker Charles Hall blocked Sam Vernon's punt into the end zone where it was picked by a Richmond Hill player who was tackled for a safety.
After the free kick, the Panthers marched 55 yards in six plays and scored on Stokes' 13-yard run with 8:38 to go to halftime.
After a couple possessions in which neither team mounted much of an attack; Panther punt returner Artavious Frost had the ball knocked loose on a jarring hit by the Wildcats' Albert Reddick, who recovered the loose ball.
View more photos from the Wildcats' Homecoming.
One play later, Richmond Hill got on the board when Matt Williams hit Dale Richardson on a reverse pass with just 13 seconds left in the half. Lori Barnes' extra point was good.
"For the first 20 minutes or so of the first half, we performed well," Warner said. "But then we should have fair caught the ball, but instead we tried to make a play and ended up turning the ball over. And then they called a better play than we had a defense for and scored right before the half. That got momentum going in their favor."
Richmond Hill rode that momentum into the second half when they took the kickoff, marched 61 yards and scored again when Zach Denney broke into to the Panthers' secondary and out-raced everyone to end zone from 33 yards out.
Liberty added one more score when Stokes capped a 13-play, 76-yard drive with 9:37 to play on a quarterback sneak into to the end zone.
After a week off, Liberty will face a yet-to-be-named opponent in the first round of the playoffs.