# TONIGHT'S OPENING DRIVE ## Liberty Creek at Greenbrier **Friday, September 25, 2026** **Pregame:** 6:43 PM Central **Kickoff:** 7:00 PM Central **Site:** Bobcat Stadium - Greenbrier, Tennessee **Broadcast:** VOTCLive.com | @VoiceOfCatsTN | 103.9 FM inside Bobcat Stadium --- WELCOME EVERYONE! And don't touch that dial, because you are locked in to the ONLY station you need for Tennessee High School Football action! IT'S A FRIDAY NIGHT IN ROBERTSON COUNTY - and you know what that means! Coming to you LIVE from Greenbrier, Tennessee - the highest point between St. Louis and the Music City - we are high above Bobcat Stadium and ready to bring you all the action as your GREENBRIER BOBCATS open Region 6-4A play against the Liberty Creek Wolves. It is 6:43 on a fall Friday night across the state of Tennessee, and it sure is good to be back with you, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host, Jim Sorrells, alongside my co-host Kevin Criswell, Coach Cates and Jacek McClellan - and WE are the Voice of the Bobcats, bringing you all that is Greenbrier sports and information. Be sure to follow along and join the conversation on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube - ANYTHING that uses the handle **@VoiceOfCatsTN**. You can find the Broadcast Center, Bobcat history, game pages and everything else we do at **VOTCLive.com**. Tonight's broadcast is **#BrierBuilt**. And tonight, for the first time this season, the Bobcats arrive at The Brier Patch with a win in their rearview mirror. ## THE BREAKTHROUGH AT PORTLAND Greenbrier went across the county line last Friday night and beat Portland, **35-28**, earning the first win of the 2026 season and the first victory of the Aaron Pitts era. The Bobcats did not ease into that one. Greenbrier struck first and led **7-0 after one quarter**. By halftime, the Bobcats had put 21 on the board and carried a **21-14 lead** into the locker room. Greenbrier stretched that advantage to **28-14 after three quarters**. Portland answered, tied the game at 28, and turned the final minutes into a test of whether this Bobcat team could finish. It did. With **1:51 remaining**, Vincent "Vinny" Ward found the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Greenbrier finished the job, walked out of Edgar Johnson Stadium with a 35-28 victory and brought Coach Pitts his first win as the head coach of the Bobcats. Ward's final line deserves more than a passing mention. **226 rushing yards. 291 all-purpose yards.** That 226-yard rushing performance ranks as the **fifth-highest recorded single-game rushing total in Greenbrier football history**. It was not empty yardage, either. Ward carried the Bobcats through the night and delivered the deciding score when the game had been pulled even. The public game story confirms the winning touchdown and the 1:51 mark. The yardage line comes from Greenbrier's team-supplied game totals and is being retained in the VOTC record file as the archive continues to grow. That win moved Greenbrier to **1-3**. And let us say it one more time for every scoreboard and database that still has it wrong: the Whites Creek game was **POSTPONED** after three lightning delays. The makeup remains TBA/TBD. It was not a 6-0 loss, and Greenbrier is not 1-4. Tonight everybody starts clean where it matters most. Greenbrier is **0-0 in Region 6-4A**. Liberty Creek is **0-0 in Region 6-4A**. ## HERE COME THE WOLVES Liberty Creek comes to Bobcat Stadium at **4-1**, riding a four-game winning streak and enjoying the best five-game start in the five-year history of its varsity football program. The Wolves opened with a **28-21 overtime loss at East Robertson**. Since then, they have beaten Portland **41-0**, Sycamore **70-0**, Gordonsville **34-13** and Whites Creek **14-10**. That is **180 points scored and 51 allowed** through five games. During the four-game winning streak, Liberty Creek has outscored its opponents **159-23**. The scores tell us something important: this is not a team that has won only one way. Liberty Creek overwhelmed Portland and Sycamore. The 70-0 win over Sycamore established program records for points and margin of victory. The Portland and Sycamore games became the first consecutive shutouts in program history, and the Portland result was the program's first road shutout. Then the Wolves beat Gordonsville with an explosive ground game. One week later, Whites Creek dragged them into a four-quarter fight, and Liberty Creek still found a way to leave with a 14-10 victory. This four-game run is Liberty Creek's longest winning streak since the Wolves won seven straight in 2023. The program began varsity play in 2022 and has already reached the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. ## THE LIBERTY CREEK OFFENSE Liberty Creek is a run-led football team, but it is not a run-only football team. Through the first four games covered by the published team-yardage sample, the Wolves produced **1,295 yards of offense**. Of that total, **932 yards came on the ground** and 363 came through the air. That means roughly **72 percent** of the offense came from the rushing attack - an average of 233 rushing yards per game in that sample. The first name to know is **Marsia Hale**, a junior running back and defensive back wearing No. 5. In the four-game detailed sample, Hale carried 31 times for **314 yards** - better than 10 yards per carry - with five rushing touchdowns and six total scores. The newer leaderboard credits him with **seven total touchdowns**. Against Gordonsville, he ran for **172 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries**, including an 85-yard score. The second half of that one-two punch is sophomore **Antonio Cunningham**. In the same four-game sample, Cunningham had **208 rushing yards on 31 carries** with five touchdowns. The updated leaderboard now shows **six rushing touchdowns**. At quarterback, sophomore **Barrett O'Brien** gives the Wolves their counterpunch. Through the detailed four-game sample, O'Brien was **26-of-50 for 363 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions**. The newer leaderboard lists him at a 55.4-percent completion rate with those same five touchdown passes. When Liberty Creek goes to the air, senior **Tristan Andrelski** has three receiving touchdowns, while senior **Grant Garner** has been a factor as a receiver, return man and defensive back. ## THE LIBERTY CREEK DEFENSE The Wolves have allowed only **10.2 points per game**, and they have several names that will stay around the football. Junior **Braxtyn Elam** leads the current listing at **8.0 tackles per game**. Senior linebacker **Malachi Koenen** is right behind him at **7.8 tackles per game** and leads the team with five quarterback hurries. Garner has two sacks. Senior **Hudson Flatt** has two fumble recoveries and returned one of them for a touchdown against East Robertson. Cunningham also appears among the sack leaders, giving the Wolves production from the same young athlete who helps power the offense. That is the shape of Liberty Creek: youth at quarterback and running back, seniors supplying balance around them, and a defense capable of creating short fields or scoring on its own. ## A GREENBRIER CONNECTION ON THE OTHER SIDELINE There is also a familiar Greenbrier thread on the Liberty Creek sideline. Wolves offensive coordinator **Stetson Dickerson** is a 2001 Greenbrier graduate and was the salutatorian of his class. He played football, basketball and baseball for the Bobcats and earned All-Region recognition in football for three seasons. Greenbrier offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach **Adeeb Al-Nimri** is also a Bobcat alumnus. Their coaching paths both include time at White House Heritage, although the available public records do not establish a direct mentor-and-assistant relationship. The clean connection is still a good one: two former Bobcats, now helping direct opposite offenses in a region game at Bobcat Stadium. ## SERIES AND STAKES This is not an old rivalry. In fact, it is barely a series. Greenbrier and Liberty Creek have met only once. The Wolves won **28-0 in Gallatin last season**. Tonight is Liberty Creek's first football trip to Bobcat Stadium and only the second meeting between the programs. But it is a real region game, and that gives it immediate weight. A Greenbrier victory would put the Bobcats at 1-0 in Region 6-4A, stop Liberty Creek's four-game winning streak and give this season an entirely different shape heading into next week's home game against White House. For Greenbrier, the challenge starts with discipline against the run. The Bobcats have to limit the explosives from Hale and Cunningham, make O'Brien sustain drives through the air and avoid giving Liberty Creek extra possessions. On offense, Greenbrier has to build on what traveled to Portland: Ward's big-play ability, a physical rushing attack and the confidence to finish when the fourth quarter tightens. The Bobcats found the breakthrough last Friday. Tonight, they try to turn one win into momentum - and momentum into a region-opening statement. Liberty Creek. Greenbrier. The Wolves' first visit to The Brier Patch. Region 6-4A begins RIGHT HERE. You are listening to Greenbrier Football on **VOTCLive.com**. Stay with us. Kickoff is coming up at 7:00. --- ## PRODUCTION NOTES - NOT FOR AIR - Greenbrier record: 1-3 overall, 0-0 region. - Whites Creek: POSTPONED; makeup TBA/TBD. Never list as a loss. - Liberty Creek: 4-1 overall, 0-0 region; 180-51 scoring margin. - Liberty Creek four-game streak margin: 159-23. - Liberty Creek yardage and detailed player lines are a four-game sample through Gordonsville unless otherwise identified as an updated leaderboard figure. - Vinny Ward's 226 rushing and 291 all-purpose totals are team-supplied/VOTC-confirmed figures; the public article confirms the winning touchdown with 1:51 remaining but does not publish the full individual box score. - Carlisle material intentionally held for a future baseball feature.