Livingston football has started district play in a 0-1 hole. The opportunity to even that mark will come at home Friday, as they welcome the 0-4 Liberty Panthers.
Last week's contest was one the Lions should have won. They outgained Hardin-Jefferson by well over 100 yards, but six turnovers would be their undoing.
"That would have taken a lot of pressure off of us right off the bat," Lion coach Finis Vanover said of the district race. "We were well prepared for anything those guys had. It showed, because we dominated them defensively. We were rolling on offense. We have to take care of the ball. I know all people see is the turnovers, but I lived through every one of them a hundred times all weekend. I know the kids did too and it hurt them badly."
The Panthers have suffered through similar pains, dropping their first two games of the season by a combined three points.
They run a double wing attack that does not put it in the air often.
"Liberty is a totally different animal," Vanover said of preparing for an offensive look they haven't seen in weeks. "They have a big offensive line. They have a kid that is close (athletically) to the Nacogdoches quarterback. They run everything that we run almost identical to the way that we run it and everything. They run the counter trey and the bootleg passes across the middle and throwing to the tight end."
The Panther offense has struggled on offense, currently last in the district. Quarterback Frankie Marez is a dual threat. Though the Panthers do not throw the ball often, Marez is just behind Livingston's Trenden Williams for fifth place in the district's rushing. He has seven total touchdowns on the season.
Former Livingston defensive coordinator Andy Garza now holds that position at Liberty.
"They have a couple of big defensive tackles. They will be in a 3-3 stack, and then in the next series they will be in a wide tackle six (6-2)."
Vanover said the Panthers will bring safeties on a blitz, drop defensive tackles into coverage and show several different looks throughout a contest. They played four different fronts in four games.
Liberty has given up an average of 250 yards per game, good for third in the district. Senior Jason Wickliff is the team's leading tackler and also has an interception.
Last week, Liberty led Huffman Hargrave for a few quarters. The Falcons were able to win that contest 49-28. The Panthers have also dropped contests to Coldspring (8-6), East Chambers (42-23) and Splendora (28-27).
"Somebody is going to break out of their slump on Friday night. It needs to be us. We are preparing positively and aggressively and we are going to attack, and have fun playing. We had a 42-play highlight tape before we started meetings Saturday. We had 42 great plays in a 33-24 loss. We are pretty good if we will stop killing ourselves."
