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LIBERTY—The Liberty High football team had no problems disposing of Travelers Rest in the season opener, as the offense lit up the scoreboard in a 48-30 route.

Red Devil quarterback Brandon Alexander ran for a staggering 246 yards and tacked on five touchdowns that would secure his team’s first home win of the season.

“It’s always good to start out on a high note so you don’t feel like you’ve worked all summer to come up with a loss,” said Liberty head coach Kyle Stewart. “It was a big one. We scouted TR and did our best to simulate them all week. They’ve got some good athletes.”

A fast start sent the Red Devils flying out to a 35-14 lead at the half, and Liberty would not look back from there. The Devildogs managed to hang around due to some unforced errors on Liberty’s end. One of Travelers Rest’s scores came off a blocked punt, while another came from a Liberty fumble deep in their own territory.

Stewart says he was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“I was pretty pleased with our defense for holding some of those Travelers Rest running backs in check,” said Stewart. “Our offense did a great job as well.”

Stewart says his offense flourished thanks, in large part, to his quarterback.

“I don’t know that we expected to score 48,” said Stewart. “We’ve got some good players and an experienced offensive line. Our quarterback (Alexander) is really good and certainly gets a lot of attention from our opponents from week to week. He had a big night and that was key for us.”

Liberty now shifts its focus to a rivalry game with Pickens this Friday night. The Blue Flame has not had the success they’ve wanted to have in the first couple games of the season, but Stewart knows what he will be in for on Friday.

“The Pickens game is kind of in a league of its own,” said Stewart. “It’s a rivalry game. A lot of the kids know each other, so this week is just different. There’s not a lot of motivating that I feel like I have to do.”

Although Pickens is 0-2 thus far, Stewart says tough losses to Easley and Pendleton will make the Blue Flame a tougher team to compete against..

“Pickens has played some stiff competition here recently, and I feel like that will make them better,” said Stewart. “It will be an intense game, and there will be a lot of emotions playing into it. Our primary focus will be to make sure we keep our focus and continue to do what we do rather than get ourselves rattled.”

Stewart says his team will be focusing on the basics this week in practice.

“It will be intense in practice this week,” said Stewart. “We want to get as many repetitions in as we possibly can, so we can focus on responsibilities rather than worry. We need to stay in shape and make sure we’re disciplined.”