GIRARD OHIO-August 30, 2024: Liberty Leopards vs Girard Indians at Arrowhead Stadium. 2nd qtr., Liberty's Dawaun Moody (3) runs for a 1st down as Girard's Gaven Hanson (52) makes the tackle. MICHAEL G. TAYLOR | TRIBUNE-VINDICATOR

GIRARD — It was not pretty, but Girard defended its home turf and defeated rival Liberty in the Battle of Belmont for the fourth consecutive year Friday.

The Indians, despite slowing down and committing several mistakes after a lightning-fast start, defeated the Leopards 41-7 on Friday behind a big second-half performance.

“It’s huge for us,” Girard head coach Pat Pearson said of the victory. “It’s huge for our kids. Its something that we work on all year and talk about.”

Early on, nothing Liberty attempted to do worked.

Offensively, when their running attack was not being stuffed by Girard’s defense, the Leopards found themselves behind the chains as a result of their own penalties.

The stalled drives led to punts, which proved risky and nearly catastrophic.

The Indians nearly blocked punter Helaman Garcia’s first and second attempts, resulting in low, short kicks downfield.

And when Garcia found time to set his feet on his third try, unburdened by any pressure for the first time, Mykel Collier-Dixon made it as if there was no punt at all. Collier-Dixon completely negated Garcia’s best punt of the night with a 40-yard return to give Girard back the ball on Liberty’s half of the field and in good position to increase its advantage to three scores.

While Liberty slowly chipped and grinded away at Girard’s defense with numerous runs by dynamic sophomore quarterback Dawaun Moody, the Indians took little time in gashing the Leopards with their passing attack.

On its first drive of the game, Girard quarterback Dominick Tolone found Nick Rafferty in stride on a quick slant. Rafferty raced away from the defenders into the end zone, just a little over three minutes into the game, for the first touchdown of Friday’s game.

The next Girard possession was even quicker, as Tolone went deep on the first play of the drive to Collier-Dixon, who beat his man and broke a tackle near the goal line to score a 46-yard touchdown.

After Collier-Dixon gave the Indians possession inside Liberty’s 4 with his big punt return, it appeared Girard may just run away with the game.

For the first time Friday, though, Liberty’s defense stopped Girard’s offense. On 4th-and-4 on their opponents’ 26-yard line, the Indians turned the ball over on downs when Moody sacked Tolone for a loss of 10.

The momentum that began with Liberty’s defense then transferred to the offense, which Moody led down the field for the first sustained Leopards drive of the game.

Although a knee injury sidelined Moody for a play, the do-it-all sophomore returned to convert a 4th-and-one that was initially 4th-and-six before a Girard defensive pass interference penalty.

After Moody and then Chamir Franklin were stopped at the one-yard line, Moody leaped across the goal line to complete a long, arduous drive and pull within one score at halftime.

Following the break, both teams made their fair share of mistakes.

For Girard, Collier-Dixon dropped a would-be 39-yard touchdown pass in the end zone, which was followed by Moody picking off Tolone a play later. The Indians similarly saw another promising drive end with a turnover shortly thereafter when the Leopards forced and recovered a fumble.

Liberty failed to capitalize on the takeaways, however, and soon committed its own mistake that would prove to be the beginning of the end.

In one of his few downfield passing attempts, Moody overthrew his receiver on a post, allowing Joey Alejars to intercept the pass.

Josiah Hunter then took over.

Moments after the interception, Girard’s diminutive tailback found an opening and weaver through the Liberty defense en route to a 59-yard rushing touchdown.

On the first play of the Indians’ next drive, Hunter did it again, breaking a run up the middle wide-open for a 60-yard touchdown to give his team a three-possession lead.

“He’s a workhorse,” Pearson said of Hunter. “Early on, they stacked the box pretty good and opened up some passing stuff for us, but he’s going to go hard all the time. … You just give it to him, and he’s going to eventually hit one.”

As time worn on, so did the Leopards, who amid a battle with numerous apparent cramps, allowed Girard to score on special teams.

With his heels not far away from his own goal line, Garcia failed to handle an off-line long snap, and Sam Scott was the beneficiary, recovering the ball in the end zone for another touchdown.

“We had the ball a couple times with a chance to tie it up and weren’t able to sustain any drives,” Liberty head coach Simon said. “Our passing game was non-existent for the most part. We couldn’t find any kind of rhythm there. We dropped some balls and things kind of spiraled quickly.”

Girard capped off the night with one final score and interception, sending its fans home happy having won the Battle of Belmont once again.

For Liberty alumnus Simon, Friday’s loss was painful.

“It hurts my soul to lose to Girard. I can’t stand it. I hate it,” Simon said.

The undefeated Indians (2-0) have a tough test ahead of them next week when they host West Branch.

Liberty (0-2) will attempt to earn its first win of the season next week vs. Lakeview.

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.