St. Cloud Bulldogs Grab First Win of the Season After Commanding 42-7 Victory Over Liberty Chargers

The St. Cloud Bulldogs took home their first win of the season after beating the Liberty Chargers 42-7 Friday night at Austin Tindall Sports Complex.

It was a big offensive night for St. Cloud that began with a kickoff return by #14 Jr. Jacob Hernandez who powered his way past Liberty’s 35 yard-line. It was a breath of fresh air last week, when officials at Austin Tindall Park declared the field unplayable against Pine Ridge due to a pounding rain storm.

The Bulldogs had to shake off a flurry of early penalties to build a 28-0 first half lead with the help of Jr. Bulldog quarterback Logan King’s favorite target Owen Conner, who nearly hit the 1000 yard mark in receiving last year and and Jr. running back TJ Griffin. King had a big night throwing with two touchdown passes driving his Bulldog team past the Chargers, who were unable to find a way to shut down the Bulldogs’ offense most of the night.

“The kids played hard, there was a lot of emotion there in the 1st quarter with not being able to play last week, and having played Barron Collier two weeks ago, which was a very emotional game with a long road trip. We hadn’t ‘hit’ anyone new in two weeks so, it was a lot of fun, with some bad penalties, but we played very well,” Coach Mike Short said after the win.

The Chargers are looking to develop a new culture this year under the leadership of first-year Liberty Coach Dee Hart who played collegiately at Alabama and Colorado State, and had a brief stint in the NFL and most recently was the junior varsity head coach at Frostproof in Polk County. The Chargers put together an impressive drive in the 3rd quarter that ended with a TD run by Sr, QB #1 Jeremiah Pierre-Louis. Liberty leaned on junior running back Jaylin “JJ” Vaughan on offense most of the night which we’re likely to see more of throughout Liberty’s season.

St. Cloud moved to 1-1 with the win and will travel to Tohopekaliga High School next Friday to take on Coach Anthony Paradiso’s Tigers. The Chargers will be home next week where they’ll host Davenport in a district game.