GREENVILLE —
Lightning flashed all around T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium in Greenville on Friday night.
But the threatening weather didn’t stop the Greenville Lions and Liberty-Eylau Leopards from completing their preseason football scrimmage. The two teams moved inside to the safety of the Roy Q. Traylor athletic facility and finished the scrimmage on the 50-yard indoor turf.
Liberty-Eylau, a 6-5 Class 3A playoff team last season, scored once outside and once inside.
The Lions, who were 0-10 last season in 4A, did not score.
Liberty-Eylau wound up with a 261-118 advantage in total yards.
“I felt like we started to play a little better as we adjusted to the speed of the game,” said Lions coach Marvin Sedberry.
Liberty-Eylau got off to a fast start, scoring on the second play from scrimmage outdoors on a 71-yard pass from quarterback Javon Rigsby to wide receiver Davion Hall.
The Lion defense buckled down and limited the Leopards to 52 yards over the next 13 plays.
Greenville got in only one play on offense, a 4-yard pass completion, before the scrimmage was suspended at 7:36 p.m.
The two teams resumed the scrimmage about 15 minutes later and Greeenville went for 74 yards in its first 15-play series indoors.
Ketrun Pemberton scored Liberty-Eylau’s second touchdown on a 40-yard run with the Leopards’ second offense against the Lions’ second defense.
The Lion defense limited the Leopards to only 35 yards on their next 12 plays as linebacker Zach Nichols recorded two tackles for losses.
Greenville quarterback Matt Riskey, who was 6-of-15 passing for 58 yards, had some trouble handling snaps from center during the Lions’ next series while toiling in increasingly humid conditions. Riskey did have one 9-yard completion and Jalen Casselberry also reeled off a 9-yard run.
Liberty-Eylau racked up 90 yards in its last 16 plays, including a 39-yard run by Pemberton to the 1-yard line.
Greenville managed 44 yards in its final 15 plays, including a 10-yard run by Tyler Matthews, who finished with 31 yards on eight carries.
Jamar Clark led the Lion rushers with 34 yards on six rushes.
Rigsby was 3-of-6 for 87 yards passing for Liberty-Eylau and Pemberton ran for 103 yards on seven carries.
Sedberry said the Leopards have some talented players.
“Being able to play against a team with some speed and quickness, certainly they gave our kids a taste of what that’s about,” he said.
Sedberry said the Lions played aggressively against a Leopard team that also hit hard.
“I’m proud of our kids,” he said.
The Lions will scrimmage again at 10 a.m. Thursday at Quinlan Ford in preparation for the season opener at home on Aug. 31 against Princeton.
Sports
Lions storm through Liberty-Eylau scrimmage
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