LYNCHBURG, Virginia (Sept. 26, 2020) – Senior running back D’vonte Price rushed for a career-high 148 yards and scored three touchdowns, but FIU fell in its season opener to Liberty, 36-34.
Price’s six-yard touchdown reception late in the fourth quarter put the deficit at just two, but FIU could not convert the two-point conversion to tie the game with 4:30 remaining.
Price earned 148 yards rushing on 13 carries, while scoring on runs of 30 and 65-yards. The versatile running back also caught one pass for six yards, which was for a touchdown. Stone Norton came off the bench to pass for 120 yards on 9-for-13, tossing a pair of scores to Bryce Singleton and the aforementioned Price. Price and Norton were not FIU’s only bright spots for the day, as Lexington Joseph opened the contest with a 100-yard kickoff return and finished Saturday with 255 yards total in his six kickoff returns.
FIU will have a bye week before hosting its first home game of the season, with Middle Tennessee visiting Riccardo Silva Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. The game will serve as Homecoming for the Panthers.
Saturday’s contest against the Flames opened with a bang, as Joseph shocked the home crowd with a 100-yard kickoff return to put FIU up 7-0 with only nine seconds taken off the game clock. The return for Joseph tied a school record at FIU for the longest kickoff return in a game, set by Richard Leonard against FAU on Nov. 16, 2012.
Liberty would score twice to jump ahead 14-7, before Price got loose for a 30-yard score to tie the game up. The two squads would enter the locker room tied at 14 apiece. Liberty extended its lead to 24-14 in the third quarter following a field goal and Maleek Willis touchdown.
Trailing by 10, Price raced down the sideline for his second touchdown on the day, this time from 65 yards out. After the Panther defense held the Flames to another field goal, Norton hit Singleton in stride for a 40-yard bomb to put the Panthers on top, 28-27, heading into the fourth quarter.
Liberty would add another field goal and touchdown to the scoring column to go up, 36-28, as Joseph nearly caught lightning in a bottle once again with his 65-yard kickoff return to set up the Panthers for a six-yard touchdown from Norton to Price. FIU had a successful two-point conversion negated due to a penalty, as the Panthers couldn’t convert the second try and left the final margin at 36-34.
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