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Orem • Football is a game of habit. Programs are accustomed to by-the-minute schedules throughout the season, and diverting from those developed routines often leads to mistakes.

Second-ranked East is powered by the details as much as anybody. So adjusting to the 4 p.m. kickoff against Orem on Saturday was already an expected challenge, and when an hour delay forced the Leopards to repeat pregame warmups — everything went haywire.

Orem flustered the Leopards into negative yardage on their first three drives, and looked to be controlling the tempo and line of scrimmage, but East's triple-option is like Novocaine: Give it time and it always works.

The Leopards relied on their swarming defense to let the medicine kick in and eventually overwhelmed the Tigers in a 38-0 decision.

"Offense played great last week; defense played great this week," said East coach Brandon Matich. "I think we showed up today and had some lag in us. I don't think our guys came out of the chutes very well, but like I told my kids, life's about adjustments. This isn't the first or last time we're going to need to adjust to something."

After settling for a 37-yard field goal by Matt Barker after Tyler Eteuati provided an instinctive punt return, where he shielded his body from the ground on a defender and raced down the sidelines as Orem stopped playing, East finally found success on offense in the second quarter.

Jaylen Warren, who entered the second week of the season as the state's leading rusher, galloped 58 yards to put the Leopards up 10-0 with 7:04 remaining until intermission. Warren would find the end zone twice more to continue his torrid pace this season.

East (2-0) ended the first half up 17-0 after scoring on a 1-yard fumblerooskie after Orem mishandled the punt exchange for the third consecutive series, but it wasn't until Ben Ford inherited the spot behind center that the offense truly clicked.

Ford, a junior who scored on a 70-yard burst up the middle in the fourth to balloon the lead to 38-0, appeared more comfortable reading the defense, and his speed and passing ability added another element.

"I don't know. We'll have to see," Matich said when asked if the switch would be permanent. "We'll have to watch film. We were getting frustrated because we kept slamming it up the middle and we knew we had the perimeter and we weren't pulling the ball and pitching it. When we started doing that, it opened things up. We'll look at film and evaluate it from there."

The Tigers (0-2) let several opportunities slip through their fingers, though. Early in the first quarter, they connected on a 41-yard play-action pass for an apparent six points, but the touchdown was negated by an illegal man downfield. Orem then squandered points again on a dropped pass in the end zone and a missed field goal as time expired in the second quarter.

Then, with the game essentially over, the Tigers were stuffed on four consecutive plays on East's 4-yard line in the third quarter.

"Our guys have a tendency to step it up inside the red zone," Matich said. "They play a little tougher and take it personal. That was an awesome stand."

Twitter: @trevorphibbs —

Storylines

R East relies on defense as the offense makes adjustment in an eventual rout of Orem.

• Jaylen Warren continued his torrid pace to the season with three more rushing touchdowns.

• Ben Ford takes over under center and ignites the Leopards offense.