The Lions of Liberty are set to battle the Panthers of Peoria on their home turf. While the Panthers are coming off a 31-0 loss to the Cactus Cobras, the Liberty Lions were unable to finish their game against Paradise Valley on September 9, as they game was postponed with the score 14-14 due to nearby lighting. The remainder of their game has been rescheduled.

Peoria head coach Doug Clapp said his team had to move on from last week’s game and focus on correcting your mistakes. The Panthers have spent the week preparing to take on Liberty.

“We are focused on how to stop Liberty and being more consistent on offense,” he said.

Clapp said in order to be successful against the Lions, the Panthers must not give them big plays. Also winning the kicking game and limiting their mistakes on offense will give the Panthers a better opportunity to earn the W.

With Liberty sure to display their strong passing game, the Panthers must play assignment football and each player must execute their job.

“If our team can do those two things, we will be fine,” Clapp said. “We have to put pressure on the quarterback so he doesn’t have all day to throw.”

As a team, Peoria is averaging 87 rushing yards and 157 passing yards per game. On paper, the Lions stats are misconstrued with the incomplete game against Paradise Valley and also the lack of minutes Liberty’s starters have played after being pulled out early in their wins over Dysart 64-6 and Glendale 49-0.

Head coach Dan Filleman said the Lions first real test of the season was against Paradise Valley. But he says Peoria is a solid team and his team must stay focused and execute the team’s game plan.

“Peoria is a tough team that does not give up and so we will need to be prepared to play all four quarters,” he said.

Liberty’s offense will go up against a tough linebacker crew from Peoria, so Filleman said to look for them to attack the edge and use their passing game to keep them guessing. He said Peoria’s offense does not do anything fancy and the Lions are prepared for their smash-mouth type of scheme and the Lions will need to make sure they are making our correct reads on defense and get all eleven players to the ball.

The Lions will rely on senior leadership from Ben Kullos, Paul Panaccione, Donnie Shields, Chris Bonadie, Jarred Johnston and Jacob Minero, as well as a very knowledgeable coaching staff.

“All the varsity coaches have either coached against Peoria in the past, played against Peoria and one of our coaches coached at Peoria for five years,” Filleman said. “So I feel we are well versed in what Peoria does, even though Liberty has never played them before.

 - Jennifer Jimenez