Youngstown East vs. Liberty

Gallery

Team

Youngstown East

Record	Div.	Conf.
1/9	Div. II	All-American Conference Red Tier

Team

Liberty

Record	Div.	Conf.
8/3	Div. V	All-American Conference Blue Tier

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

Liberty

Following its first game since merging with Chaney, the East High football team gathered near the south end zone at Liberty Stadium and chanted “One city, one team!”

The Panthers debuted new helmets (black, with a sky blue block-Y) and a “new” offensive approach that dates back to the heyday of the City Series, but the biggest change Friday night came up front, where East unleashed their super-sized offensive line.

Lining up in the stacked-I for all but one two-point conversion attempt, the Panthers ran four running backs behind a line that averages 291 yards.

The result? More than 300 yards rushing, 0 yards passing and an impressive 26-15 win over the Leopards.

“They went double tight [ends] and just went right at us,” said Liberty coach Jeff Whittaker. “We had as many people in the [defensive] box as we could put in the box.”

George Leflore carried 26 times for 134 yards and a touchdown and DD Fleetion added 127 on 24 carries and almost all of them came on simple off-tackle plays.

“It was just our line,” Leflore said. “Without our line, we would never have done all that.”

East has always had good skill position players but this looks like the best offensive line in Brian Shaner’s nine-year coaching career. Left tackle Travail Scott (6-3, 275), left guard Albert Byrd (5-10, 275), center Davon Edwards (6-1, 280), right guard Lavante Perry (6-2, 305) and right tackle Trey Smith (6-6, 320) dominated the line of scrimmage, helping the Panthers control the ball for 19 of 24 minutes in the first half alone.

“We picked up a couple linemen in the merger and we had three guys back that we counted on last year as sophomores,” said Shaner, who also praised tight ends Valentino Sewell and James Adams. “Those guys got better and bringing over [Smith] and Byrd made us deeper and more aggressive up front.”

When told they looked more like a Mooney line than one from East, Shaner broke into a smile and said, “That’s why we run it.”

Liberty gave East all it could handle in the first half, with Sharron Walls capping two five-play drives with touchdown runs. But both defenses stiffened up in the second half and the Leopards netted just 15 yards in the final 24 minutes.

“They controlled the football up front,” Whittaker said. “I thought we came out offensively and did some good things in the first half but in the second half we had a couple penalties and some negative plays and it took us out of it.”