LEEDS — The Leeds Green Wave made the trip to Southside-Gadsden and dominated the Panthers, 55-19, in a preseason jamboree contest. The Wave now looks to do battle with the Alexandria Valley Cubs tomorrow night in the season opener.

It was all Leeds from the very first offensive play for the Green Wave. T.J. Phillips handed the ball off to Ladarius Rodgers and he went through a big hole that opened and sprinted 54 yards to the end zone for a touchdown.  

Keaton Glass’s extra point was good and with 7:41 left in the first quarter Leeds led 7-0.

On the Panthers next possession, sacks by Ronald Woods and Christian Blaylock forced the Panthers to punt the football away.  

Thanks to a 20-yard punt return by Rodgers, Leeds took over at the Panther 23-yard line.  

Four plays later Chris Edwards scored from five yards out.  The extra point was good, and after one quarter Leeds had a 14-0 lead.

The Green Wave picked up steam in the second quarter when Rodgers intercepted a pass to give Leeds the football at the Panther 11-yard line.

Three plays later Edwards scored from five yards out for his second touchdown of the half.  

The extra point was good, and Leeds was truly rolling with a 21-0 lead.

Southside finally got on the board midway through the second quarter when their spark plug Blake Devine broke out into the open and raced 30 yards for a Panther score.  

The extra point was good and the score was 21-7 in favor of Leeds.  

LHS came right back with another score of their own. Their next drive started on their own 35-yard line.  Javiere Mitchell took the snap from “Wildcat” and easily ran the sideline for a 65-yard score, but it was called back due to an illegal block in the back.  

Instead, the Green Wave slowly marched 65 yards down the field with Ronald Woods’ 19-yard run to the Panther 1-yard line.  Woods capped of the drive on the next play with a plunge into the end zone.

The extra point was good and Leeds led 28-7 with 5:18 left in the half.

The Green Wave defense earned the offense a chance for a score to close out the half.  

Leeds took over at their 30-yard line.

On the drives’ first play Leeds quarterback Davante Smith rolled out and found Christian Blaylock for 36-yards to the Panther 34-yard line.  On the next play, Rodgers struck again, this time for the remaining 34 yards.  

The extra point try failed, but Leeds led 34-7 at half time.

Freshman Adam Mitchell show a glimpse of what the future holds for the Green Wave, scoring on the next two drives.  The first touchdown was from six yards out.  Mitchell followed with a more dramatic 54-yard run to put Leeds up 48-7.  

The scoring for the Green Wave was capped off when Devin Braxton broke free for a 37-yard touchdown run.

The extra point was good as the Green Wave left Gadsden with a 55-19 drowning of Southside.

The Green Wave will get their regular season and defense of the 3A state title by hosting 4A foe Alexandria Friday night.  Leeds will be home for the first two home game hosting Marbury next Friday night to start region play.  

The Green Wave’s first road trip will be in week three with a huge region matchup against Clay County.  

Kickoff for tomorrow night’s game against the Valley Cubs will be 7 p.m. at Homer Smiles field.