By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Liberty maintained its dominance over rival Poinciana, winning the Battle of the Boulevard for the fifth straight time in a 64-34 blowout at Charger field Thursday.

It was the season finale for both teams.

Senior running back Bobby Jones (14-176, 3 TDs) rushed for three touchdowns and quarterback Terrell Bonds threw for 178 yards and four touchdowns, three to senior Ameer Thompson, as the Chargers amassed 469 total yards while raising their record to 4-6. Bonds, a sophomore, threw for a school-record 2,030 yards and 21 touchdowns this the season.

Poinciana completed its season at 2-8. The Eagles have never beaten Liberty.

The Chargers offense was unstoppable all night, scoring on their first seven possessions, as the team rolled to a 22-0 lead on a 17-yard pass from Bonds to Joey Casillas and TD runs of 1 yard by Jones and a 33 yards by Dario Bennett.

The Eagles got back into it by taking advantage several penalties against Liberty that aided a 50-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, capped by Theron Ellis’ 2-yard run.

Poinciana executed an onside kick, scored again, and closed to within 22-15 on Jevonte Hursey’s 4-yard run on fourth and goal. Poinciana again successfully recovered an onside kick and seemed on the verge of tying the score, but Liberty’s Donald Sims-Sylvester picked off a pass and returned it to the Charger 48. Six plays later, Jones scored his second TD from the 9, but Poinciana’s Michael Cirino, playing his last game, returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to keep Poinciana close at 30-22.

Liberty couldn’t be stopped as Jones capped a 73-yard drive with 30 seconds left in the half on a 21-yard run.

Disaster struck Poinciana moments later when Liberty’s Matthew Montalvo recovered a fumble at the Eagle 8. One play later, Bonds hit Thompson on a slant pattern for a 44-22 halftime lead.

Poinciana Coach Corey Fleming pointed to those turnovers toward the end of the first half as momentum-killers.

“We did a good job of getting back into it, but those two turnovers really hurt us. You can’t do that and expect to win the game,” he said.

Liberty Coach David Benson said it was important to his senior class to go unbeaten against Poinciana.

“They didn’t want to be the class that loses it, so it was big for them,” he said. “I’m proud of the kids, from top to bottom, for the effort they gave out here and for how they fought all season. Of course, we’d rather be playing next week (in the playoffs), but we were 3-2 (in the district) and we’ve made some progress. It was a good way for our seniors to end their careers. I just got done telling the juniors that it’s their team now. It’s up to them to take on the leadership and get us to where we want to go.”

Bonds hit Thompson for another 8-yard TD pass in the third quarter, capping a 15-play drive, and he found Thompson from 29 yards for another TD on the first play of the fourth quarter, making it 58-22.

Cirino ran for TDs of 17 and 41 yards in the fourth quarter against Liberty’s reserves and the Chargers capped the scoring on the last play when Julian Aleman returned a kickoff 50 yards.

The Chargers were penalized 10 times for 110 yards. Poinciana was flagged five times for 45 yards.

The teams did not meet for the traditional postgame handshake.

“We waited for what seemed like three minutes, but they were too busy celebrating,” Fleming said. “We’re not going to stand there and watch them showboat. Line up and show some class, and then do your celebrating.”