The Panthers slipped to just four wins last season, but were just 10 points away from being 7-3.

By Joe Scalzo

YOUNGSTOWN — Last fall was an eye opener for the East High football team.

This year, the Panthers are looking to open some eyes.

“Trust me, we remind guys of that 4-6 season every day,” said East coach Brian Shaner, referring to last year’s record. “Nobody wants to go through that again.”

After going 8-2 in 2007 — East’s first season — and 7-3 the previous two years at Rayen, Shaner’s team took a step back last fall, stumbling to a 2-5 start as the young Panthers tried to replace a leadership void left by graduated four-year starters Sal Battles and Gary Thornton.

“We lost a lot of leadership in those two guys,” said Shaner. “Last year we had a young football team with a lot of first-time players and we didn’t have a lot of size.”

The low point came with a 49-12 loss to Fitch in Week 2.

“That was the first time as a head coach that we got blown out,” he said. “They were better than us and we weren’t ready for them.

“I don’t want to put those seniors down but we at times we weren’t focused enough. Some of the guys thought we could just show up and win. We learned that if we didn’t work like that team that went 8-2, we weren’t going to be 8-2.”

Last year’s team certainly played hard on Friday nights — “It was one of the funnest teams I’ve ever coached because they played so hard,” Shaner said — and by the end of the season, the Panthers showed improvement, winning two of their last three games and falling by just one to Warren Harding.

In fact, East was just 10 points away from being 7-3.

But Shaner told his team he wanted to see that effort the rest of the week, and this year’s team has improved in that area, he said.

“We’re so far ahead of where we were at this time last year,” he said. “The playbook, team unity, pregame ... you name it, we’re just ahead

“We’re in love with this team right now.”

Like most of Shaner’s team, this year’s squad will be undersized up front, with his linemen needing to make up for that disadvantage with effort and technique. He’s satisfied so far — “Please prop my O-line; they’re working hard and should be improved from last year,” Shaner said — and feels his team has the depth to withstand some injuries.

“I don’t want to say we’re a deep team — we only travel 50 players — but my backups are almost as talented as the seniors,” he said. “If we lose one guy, we’ll be OK.”

Among the players to watch are WR/RB Trumaine Jenkins (“A real game-changer for us”), RB Mike Thomas (a member of East’s state track relays who Shaner calls “a threat everywhere on the field”), RB/LB Lilton Morris (“Just a phenomenal athlete”) and safety Stephen Johnson (a Division I recruit who Shaner feels will end up in the Mid-American Conference).

But Shaner said the team’s clear leader is linebacker Kendal Peterson, an all-district player who will shift from fullback to offensive tackle for the good of the team.

“Just a phenomenal player,” he said. “Everything we do goes through him.”

For all the positive talk, East has a tough task ahead of it with eight road games against teams such as Liberty, Fitch, Beaver Local, Canfield, Hubbard, Canton Central Catholic and Warren Harding.

“We like it [being on the road] better that way,” said Shaner, whose team in past years has played “home” games at Fitch, Boardman and Mineral Ridge. “We use the philosophy that it’s us against the world and we use those home team fans as fuel. I think it makes us player harder.

“We love YSU, but it doesn’t matter how many fans we put in there, you can’t really hear them. We’d rather go to Beaver Local and have the fans screaming at us.”

scalzo@vindy.com