Youth and mistakes on the football field can lead to poor results and Liberty had a mixture of both in their 31-21 loss on opening night at home against Pennridge.

The Rams took advantage of three Liberty turnovers and brand-new Liberty units across the offensive and defensive line to pull out the road win.

Pennridge ran for 300 yards on the night, led by Ryan Rowe’s 101 yards and two touchdowns, as Pennridge built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Liberty did fight back to even the game in the second half, thanks to a 15-yard TD reception by Zyaire Davis from Antonio Fontanez.

Adriaan Deleon leveled the game early in the second quarter with a four-yard touchdown run to seem like the Hurricanes settled their way into the game.

Luis Nunes booted a 31-yard field goal before halftime to give Pennridge a 17-14 lead at the break and the Rams ran away with the lead in the second half, getting a 14-yard score from Rowe midway through the third quarter and then a one-yard score from Noah Keating with just over four minutes left in the game to all but seal the win.

“We put ourselves in a hole at the beginning, but the bottom line we got out physicaled up and down the field,” said Liberty head coach Shawn Daignault. “I give our kids credit for the fight they showed, but we were out disciplined and physicaled and made more mistakes. You can’t make yourself overcome that many things and you got to give Pennridge a lot of credit.”

Davis added a 58-yard receiving score late in the game to showcase his big play potential for the Hurricanes passing game, as he finished with eight catches for 166 yards and two scores.

Star wide receiver Jake Pukszyn had a quiet night, hauling in three catches for 30 yards, as Fontanez threw 37 times on the night, completing 22 for 251 yards and two touchdowns.

Liberty’s run game was basically obsolete, mustering 11 yards on 14 attempts.

“There were some growing pains up front for sure,” Daignault said. “When we watch the film we’ll find out what it was. Four out of the five linemen were getting their first varsity snaps and hopefully they grew up a bunch after this game. We don’t have enough experience to make a bunch of mistakes.”

Liberty now sets their sights on hosting Central Catholic (1-0) this Thursday night at home.

It’ll be an opportunity to bounce back from a disappointing opener and avoid the dreaded 0-2 start.