By Joe scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

liberty

All summer, East coach Brian Shaner went the traditional route with his defensive line, using space-eaters that could clog the inside and hold up against bigger teams.

Then he decided to try something else.

“All of a sudden, we made a move to get some linebackers up to the defensive line and just attacking,” Shaner said.

They called the new defense “lightning,” and it took Liberty by storm on Friday night.

Led by a monster game from the front seven and a few nifty plays from senior receiver Oshay Lawrence, the Panthers won just their second opener under Shaner, blanking Liberty 14-0.

“That D-line played their tails off tonight,” said Shaner. “I don’t know how you block them.”

Thing was, the Leopards’ defense was just as good. So East used two big special teams plays to set up its two scoring drives, which took a combined three plays.

The first came late in the first quarter, when Lawrence returned a Liberty punt 70 yards to give the Panthers a first-and-goal at the 6. On the next play, Devonta Fleetion ran in for the score, then added a two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

“The only thing in my head was, ‘Get away from the defense,’” said Lawrence. “I did break one tackle but my punt return team did an excellent job of blocking and I slipped away and took it a long way and set it up for Devonta to get in for the touchdown.”

After a scoreless second quarter, East forced Liberty to go three-and-out on its first possession of the second half. The snap was a little bit off and the Panthers swarmed Liberty’s punter, setting up a first down at the Leopards’ 28. On East’s second play, senior quarterback Shajehan Fleetwood found Lawrence for a 27-yard TD.

“I’ll tell you what, little Oshay Lawrence, when he gets the ball in his hands, he’s amazing,” Shaner said. “He stands all of 5-7 but he plays like he’s 6-2 with good moves.”

Shaner’s only other opening game win came two years ago against Cleveland South. Friday’s victory erased some bad memories of last year’s game, which Liberty won 16-7.

“That was a big factor,” Lawrence said. “The only thing we were thinking was, ‘We have to win.’

“We’re a talented team, we’re way better, stronger, faster, quicker and we came out and played a great game and proved to the city we can win.”

Fleetion carried 14 times for 85 yards for East, while Lawrence caught five passes for 56 yards.

With 26 seniors, Shaner thinks the Panthers have the talent and the experience to make a run at their first postseason berth. They took a big step forward on Friday.

“This is a huge win for East,” Shaner said. “These guys know what we expect and they do a great job of controlling themselves, they do a great job of being coachable, they do a great job of doing everything we ask them to do.”

John Rivers led Liberty with 76 yards on 20 carries. QB Charlie Perdue was just 3 of 9 for 25 yards.

“Defensively, we played pretty well,” said Leopards coach Jeff Whittaker. “Special teams, obviously the two major mistakes put them in scoring position twice and they were able to capitalize on it in both instances.”