Friday’s rivalry game between Parish Episcopal and Argyle Liberty Christian didn’t go the way the Panthers envisioned.
Instead of notching a second consecutive win over the Warriors, Parish instead saw Liberty score 48 unanswered points to close in a 55-7 defeat.
Liberty outgained Parish on the night, 440-298, and won the turnover battle, 2-0, while also scoring on special teams.
Additionally, the Panthers did themselves no favors with nine penalties for 99 yards.
The end result sees Parish (5-3) drop to 3-1 in TAPPS Division I District I, while Liberty (5-2) remains unbeaten and alone in first at 3-0 in district.
Friday’s contest in Argyle seemed on pace to be competitive when Parish’s Jaxon McKinney answered an opening Liberty touchdown with a score of his own from 1 yard to make the score 7-7 midway through the opening quarter.
The drive featured 66 passing yards from quarterback Logan Lucero, including completions of 12 and 37 yards to Charlie Petet.
But there would be few positives the rest of the way for the Panthers, with Liberty scored the final 28 points in the first half and later putting the finishing touches on a dominating victory when Cooper Witten blocked a field goal and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown.
Offensively for Liberty, Crews Messer completed 12-of-15 passes for 239 yards and four touchdowns, while Correll Buckhalter Jr. had 16 rushes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
For Parish, Lucero finished with 142 passing yards, while McKinney rushed for 63 yards and Reid Cave posted three receptions for 62 yards.
Parish will look to bounce back at home at 7 p.m. against Trinity Christian-Addison.
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