Tonight the Liberty Hurricanes travel to Cottingham Stadium to take on the Easton Red Rovers in head coach Jeff Braido's home debut. Liberty and Easton is one of the oldest rivalries in Pennsylvania high school football as this will be the 99th meeting between the two city schools, who have played every year since 1919 (counting old Bethlehem High School as Liberty since they are in the same building). Both teams come in relatively untested after easy wins over mountain opponents last weekend, Easton a 31-0 winner over Stroudsburg and Liberty a 39-6 winner over East Stroudsburg South. The winner will throw their hat in the ring as a contender in the EPC South this year and challenge the top tier of Parkland, Emmaus, and Bethlehem Catholic.
When Liberty Has the Ball: The Hurricanes only threw three passes last weekend, but will have to be much more diverse on offense tonight to come away with a victory. Junior QB Todd Erney should be up to the task. Erney was off to a very promising start as a sophomore when disciplinary issues ended his season after week 5. Like his brother (current East Stroudsburg redshirt freshman and Liberty's all-time leading passer Doug Erney) he has a quick release and solid accuracy, especially on intermediate throws. He does not have much experience at receiver, with no player on the roster having more than 7 catches in 2016. However, Liberty has a big and experienced offensive line, with 4 seniors and 5 returning starters. Running back Nasir Legree, a junior, is already a three year starter and ran for 178 yards last week. Liberty going to pound the ball with Legree first, who is a big time playmaker. But Easton counters with an excellent defensive line that goes 8 or 9 deep, and is led by Lafayette recruit Trevor Storm at defensive end. At 6'7 235, Storm is long and explodes off the ball. His first step is by most high school tackles and he was a major disruptor last week. EJ Simmons coming off the other edge is no picnic, a 6'3 220 pound end who is also drawing FCS attention. Easton allowed only 33 yards of offense last week, and an amazing -24 yards after Stroudsburg's opening drive. They were susceptible early to the quarterback run, but did a better job as the game went on of staying in their lanes and setting the edge. If they bottle up Liberty tonight, that may be the first sign of a great defense.
When Easton Has the Ball: Easton quarterback coach Mike Palos had been at Liberty the last few years, so the Hurricanes will be familiar with the former Lafayette quarterback's tendencies. Wide receiver Jake Herres is the headliner, a 6'5 200 pounder with the fastest 40 yard dash on the roster. He's getting FBS looks and has an offer from Army. Last week, two of his three catches went for TDs and in a more competitive game, expect his targets to go way up. QB Scott Poulson looked very comfortable last week throwing the ball, and probably will be asked to chuck it more like 20 times this week. The running game relied on three different backs, with Harold Reynolds, Izzy Selassie, and Katrell Thompson all going for around 60 yards and Thompson and Reynolds finding the end zone. I expect Reynolds to gain a bigger share of the carries as the year goes on, but I thought Thompson looked the most explosive in week 1. He also had a pick and a big return on defense. The O-Line struggled with penalties last week, but it is a huge unit (235-270-295-255-270) that starts two juniors and a sophomore. Liberty's defense destroyed ESS last week, and will present some challenges for Easton. They're young in the secondary, so stopping Herres and company will be a big challenge, but linebackers Will Kandianis and Jaden Vazquez are two of the best in the Valley. They also have a big and deep defensive line, so the Rovers will need to make a commitment to the running game.
Prediction: This has the potential to be a real smash-mouth affair, with a lot of big and physical athletes on both lines and great running backs all around. The team that can throw it a little better is probably the team that is going to win, and Easton just has more weapons on the perimeter to attack the young Hurricane secondary. Easton 21-7
When Liberty Has the Ball: The Hurricanes only threw three passes last weekend, but will have to be much more diverse on offense tonight to come away with a victory. Junior QB Todd Erney should be up to the task. Erney was off to a very promising start as a sophomore when disciplinary issues ended his season after week 5. Like his brother (current East Stroudsburg redshirt freshman and Liberty's all-time leading passer Doug Erney) he has a quick release and solid accuracy, especially on intermediate throws. He does not have much experience at receiver, with no player on the roster having more than 7 catches in 2016. However, Liberty has a big and experienced offensive line, with 4 seniors and 5 returning starters. Running back Nasir Legree, a junior, is already a three year starter and ran for 178 yards last week. Liberty going to pound the ball with Legree first, who is a big time playmaker. But Easton counters with an excellent defensive line that goes 8 or 9 deep, and is led by Lafayette recruit Trevor Storm at defensive end. At 6'7 235, Storm is long and explodes off the ball. His first step is by most high school tackles and he was a major disruptor last week. EJ Simmons coming off the other edge is no picnic, a 6'3 220 pound end who is also drawing FCS attention. Easton allowed only 33 yards of offense last week, and an amazing -24 yards after Stroudsburg's opening drive. They were susceptible early to the quarterback run, but did a better job as the game went on of staying in their lanes and setting the edge. If they bottle up Liberty tonight, that may be the first sign of a great defense.
When Easton Has the Ball: Easton quarterback coach Mike Palos had been at Liberty the last few years, so the Hurricanes will be familiar with the former Lafayette quarterback's tendencies. Wide receiver Jake Herres is the headliner, a 6'5 200 pounder with the fastest 40 yard dash on the roster. He's getting FBS looks and has an offer from Army. Last week, two of his three catches went for TDs and in a more competitive game, expect his targets to go way up. QB Scott Poulson looked very comfortable last week throwing the ball, and probably will be asked to chuck it more like 20 times this week. The running game relied on three different backs, with Harold Reynolds, Izzy Selassie, and Katrell Thompson all going for around 60 yards and Thompson and Reynolds finding the end zone. I expect Reynolds to gain a bigger share of the carries as the year goes on, but I thought Thompson looked the most explosive in week 1. He also had a pick and a big return on defense. The O-Line struggled with penalties last week, but it is a huge unit (235-270-295-255-270) that starts two juniors and a sophomore. Liberty's defense destroyed ESS last week, and will present some challenges for Easton. They're young in the secondary, so stopping Herres and company will be a big challenge, but linebackers Will Kandianis and Jaden Vazquez are two of the best in the Valley. They also have a big and deep defensive line, so the Rovers will need to make a commitment to the running game.
Prediction: This has the potential to be a real smash-mouth affair, with a lot of big and physical athletes on both lines and great running backs all around. The team that can throw it a little better is probably the team that is going to win, and Easton just has more weapons on the perimeter to attack the young Hurricane secondary. Easton 21-7
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