WINFIELD — Early in the first quarter South Carroll's defense had to make a stand to keep Liberty off the board at Parker Field in South Carroll.
The Lions were driving inside South Carroll's 20-yard line, but after a penalty were pushed back and eventually forced to punt. The Lions spent much of the first half on the Cavaliers' side of the field, but a stout defense from South Carroll kept the Lions scoreless. Propelled by the defense, the Cavaliers pulled away in the second half to finish a 28-0 shutout against their crosstown rivals.
"The defense played great, they kept us in the game when that field was just tilted against us in the first half," Cavs coach Steve Luette said. "The defense did what they needed to do until we were able to get some better field position and start moving the ball on offense."
The Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 county) received the opening kickoff and just a few plays later Jamar Williams took a hand-off up the middle and found some open ground to accelerate through, ending in a 48-yard touchdown and an early lead.
It was the first of three touchdowns for Williams, who carried the ball just four times for a game-high 82 yards. Two of his touchdowns came on the ground and he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. It was the first 3-touchdown game of his career.
"I was really happy just to get the ball and run with Steve [Baca] because he's a good running back … it was a good feeling," Williams said. "I always believe in our players and our defense is tough and we came out here prepared and ready to play."
Williams wasn't the only effective part of the offense as quarterback AJ Linn completed 9 of 17 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Patrick Kelly led the way for South Carroll with a game-high 104 yards on four receptions.
Liberty's offense moved the ball on the ground at times, but throughout the first two quarters the Lions (2-2, 0-1) was unable to finish off drives and went into halftime down 14-0. The Cavaliers started lining up more players near the line of scrimmage in an attempt to stifle the run.
Lions senior quarterback David Downs couldn't capitalize, finishing that first half with just two completions with a net of negative two yards. He was replaced at halftime by Ben Agostino. Agostino didn't fare much better as the South Carroll defense continued its domination.
Liberty got into Cavalier territory a couple times on the second half, but penalties and another interception doomed the Lions.
"South Carroll doesn't give you big windows to throw in, they're great athletes and they took away the pass and put nine people in the box and we couldn't block that many people so that made the running game tough," Lions coach Larry Luthe said. "Our defense I though was unbelievable in the first half and in the second half [South Carroll] got the field position and took advantage of it … they don't make very many mistakes."
Liberty 0 0 0 0 — 0
South Carroll 7 7 7 7 — 28
SCORING SUMMARY
SC-Jamar Williams 48 run (Jacob Snell kick)
SC-Brent McPherson 11 pass from AJ Linn (Snell kick)
SC-Williams 22 run (Snell kick)
SC-Williams 35 pass from Linn (Snell kick)
UNOFFICIAL STATISTICS
Rushing
L-Noah Rohrer 7-59, Tyler Bowling 7-37, David Downs 8-30, Max Kirin 10-27, Nick Bonomo 4-14, Corey Luthe 1-5, Ben Agostino 3-2, Alec Pellicciotti 1-2, Zach Soderlund 1-0; SC-Jamar Williams 4-82, Steven Baca 14-44, AJ Linn 6-16, Naveen Pattasseril 2-8, Joe Malagari 3-(-1).
Passing
L-Agostino 6-9-1 37, Downs 2-10-1 (-2); SC-Linn 9-17-0 183.
Receiving
L-Bonomo 2-24, Rohrer 2-12, Pellicciotti 1-4, Jarrett Pfeifer 1-0, Joey Case 1-(-2), Kirin 1-(-3); SC-Patrick Kelly 4-104, Williams 2-42, Brent McPherson 2-23, Silas Kelly 1-14.
County standings
| Team | County | Overall |
| Man Valley | 4-0 | 1-0 |
| Century | 3-1 | 1-0 |
| South Carroll | 3-1 | 1-0 |
| Westminster | 2-2 | 0-0 |
| Winters Mill | 1-2 | 0-0 |
| Liberty | 2-2 | 0-1 |
| F.S. Key | 0-3 | 0-1 |
| North Carroll | 0-4 | 0-1 |
