PHENIX CITY — Pike Liberal Arts scored 27 points in the second quarter and secured the No. 3 seed in Class AAA-Region 1 with a 34-20 victory over Glenwood at Sammy Howard field Friday night.

It was the first home loss for Glenwood, which now stands 5-3 on the year and 3-3, as it has completed the 2010 region schedule and will be the No. 4 seed in the first round of the AISA state playoffs. Pike finished with a 4-2 region mark and now stands at 6-2 in the year.

The 27-point explosion by the Patriots in that period was keyed by two costly fumbles by the Gators that halfback Nick McLaughlin turned into two touchdowns. Pike was up only 13-7 and Glenwood had the ball on its own 41 following a punt. But Glenwood’s Brandon Daley was sacked for a big loss and fumbled the ball which was recovered by Ashton Davis.

On the first play, McLaughlin went 17 yards and a 19-7 lead. Following the kickoff, Glenwood fumbled on their third offensive play and again it was McLaughlin, who went 62 yards around the right side and it was 27-7 and the momentum of the game had changed.

The Patriots sealed the halftime score at 34-7 when Taylor Stephens scored his second touchdown of the half with only 26 second left before halftime.

“We made some mistakes on offense that hurt us,” said Glenwood coach Jason Allen after the game. “And we got whipped on the off tackle play and could not tackle No. 12 (McLaughlin).”

“This is a simple game and you have to block and tackle and Pike did a better job of that than we did,” he added.

McLaughlin finished the night with 197 yards on only 10 carries. He also got help from teammate Stephens also had two touchdowns and a 2-point conversion and 90 yards on the ground.

Glenwood’s Will Allison finished the night with 135 yards on 14 runs but was limited to only one run for no yards in the second half as he suffered a mild concussion on defense and did not return. Teammate Deion Goshay did his share as he had 117 yards on 10 runs and had a 50-yard touchdown in the fourth period for the Gators. Goshay went 80 yards for what looked like a game-tying TD in the first half but the touchdown was called back because of a penalty.

Glenwood will now go on the road next week and face No. 6 Edgewood before finishing out the regular season against No. 9 Springwood on Oct. 29.