The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots had their season come to a close on Friday night when they fell to the Glenwood Gators 50-7 in the opening round of the AISA Class 3A state playoffs.

“It was tough,” said Patriot head coach Gene Allen. “They have a good football team. We had a lot of adversity this week, but it’s no excuse. We played a lot of guys and we had to move some things around this week. Some things didn’t work. We made a lot of mistakes that we don’t normally make.”

The Gators scored on their first four drives of the ball game to jump out to a quick 27-0 lead.

The Gators took the opening drive 83 yards on 12 plays and scored the game’s first touchdown on a three-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bryce Valero. After a successful two-point conversion, the Gators led 8-0.

On their next three possessions, the Gators had a one-yard touchdown run by Valero, a 24-yard touchdown run by Valero and an 18-yard touchdown reception to go up 27-0.

The Gator defense also got on the board in the second half, they returned a bad snap for a score to go up 34-0 with 11:25 remaining in the opening half.

Trevor Crisco scored the final touchdown of the half when he hauled in a 53-yard touchdown pass by Valero to put the Gators up 41-0.

The defense closed out the half when they forced a safety to send the game into halftime with the Gators holding a 43-0 lead.

The Gators scored their final touchdown of the game on the second half’s first possession when they took a Patriot wild snap into the endzone to go up 50-0.

With time dwindling down to the final few seconds, the Patriots got on the scoreboard when Drew Nelson connected with Levi Sikes on a four-yard touchdown pass.

The Patriots end the regular season with a 10-1 overall record and finished in second place within Class 3A Region 1.

“I am proud of our guys,” Allen said. “We have a great group of guys. I expect the one’s coming back next year to be ready to play. I expect some great things.”

The Patriots will say goodbye to their seniors after Friday night’s loss. Seniors that have left a mark on the school and the football program.

“I appreciate the seniors,” Allen said. “When we started this season, there were a lot of people that didn’t give us a chance to do anything. This group of seniors played for each other. They were willing to what every it took for the team to win. They put the team first.”