Special to the MESSENGER

Pike Liberal Arts high powered air attack was grounded Friday night when they visited the No. 1 ranked Gators of Glenwood High School in Phenix City.

The Gators used a hard-nosed running game, a sprinkle of a passing game and a dash of swarming defense enroute to a 54-22 win over the Patriots.

The Patriots were held to minus-18 yards in the first half as the Gators built a 40-0 half time lead.

"Glenwood has a great team," said Patriot Head Coach Mack Williams. "It’s a mental game; I don’t think we were at our best tonight mentally."

Patriot quarterback Layton Sanders completed just two first half passes and spent most of the first half running for his life.

Gator Head Coach Wayne Trawick said, "We set the tone on defense right off the bat."

Trawick said the pressure on Sanders was outstanding most of the night.

"Pike had been scoring a lot of points and their quarterback had thrown for about 800 yards."

Chris Jackson provided the big plays for the Gators as he rushed for three touchdowns in the contest enroute to a 16-carry 233-yard performance.

His season rushing totals for the season is a jaw dropping 1773 yards with 24 touchdowns to boot.

Glenwood’s starting offensive unit scored on every position in the first half.

The scoring began as senior fullback David Evans went 13-yards up the middle with about eight minutes left in the first quarter to make the score 7-0. Evans scored from 6 yards out minutes later as Glenwood led 13-0 after one.

The Gators exploded in the second quarter putting 27 points on the board highlighted by Jackson’s 21 yard dash around the right side which made the score 27-0 with about 7 minutes left in the half.

In an attempt to jump-start the offense the Patriots opened the second half with an on sides kick which sophomore Blake Skinner recovered for the Gators at midfield.

A few plays later Jackson raced around the right side for a 37 yard touchdown run to make the score 47-0.

The Patriots’ offense got going with 2:46 remaining in the second half.

From its own 11 yard line Sanders raced 51 yards to the Gator 38-yard line.

A few plays later back-up quarterback Drew Kilpatrick ran around the right side for a five-yard touchdown to put the Patriots on the board. The extra-point was blocked.

After the Gators scored again, the Patriots went into their bag of tricks.

Kilpatrick pitched the ball to Sanders who then executed a perfect halfback option pass to Brent Hill for a 70-yard touchdown. Sanders ran around the right side for the two-point conversion.

The Patriots ended the scoring with 2:38 left in the game when Sanders found Hill in the corner of the in zone for a 17-yard touchdown. That made it 54-22 after the successful two point conversion.

The loss drops the Patriots to 1-6, and 0-2 in the AISA, Class 3A East Area 2). The Gators improved to 7-0, and 2-0 in area play.

Williams said he would try something-different next week to try to reverse the current Patriot trend.

"We are going to do our regular practice on Tuesday," he said. "On Wednesday we are going to take the day off and go fishing and resume practice on Thursday."

The Patriots travel to East Montgomery on Oct. 12.