MARIETTA — Walker made new coach John East’s debut a successful one as the Wolverines defeated Temple 30-14 Friday in their season opener at Robertson Field.

Walker (1-0) led 17-0 at halftime and the Wolverines held its Class AA opponent scoreless until Temple scored a couple of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter.

For East, it was the perfect way to start his coaching tenure at Walker.

“It doesn’t get any better,” East said. “It’s been awesome all day (Friday) at the school. Just the whole thing, the whole day’s been great. The students at the pep rally were great. I could tell the students were ready and I’m glad that we could deliver. Getting everybody together, the families, we’re getting the season off to a great start.”

Walker was propelled on offense by senior running back Evan Kasian’s 138 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown, while the Wolverine defense kept Temple (0-1) at bay through most of the game.

“We executed the game plan,” East said. “We could run the ball efficiently and we worked in a short passing game. We felt our running game’s pretty strong, and so I felt pretty good about that, and defensively, we did a really good job.”

Walker certainly executed its game plan to perfection on its very first series as it marched 76 yards on eight plays, with Patrick McPherson’s 3-yard touchdown run and Jack Johnson’s extra point giving the Wolverines a

7-0 lead with 8:27 remaining in the first quarter.

Walker began a lengthy drive on its second series , using more than 6 minutes and 12 plays to move the ball deep into Temple territory.

The drive culminated in Johnson’s 33-yard field goal, increasing the Wolverines’ lead to 10-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.

Walker caught a big break on the ensuing kickoff when Cordell Parson’s 85-yard return for a touchdown was called back after Temple was charged with illegal blocking with 11:39 remaining in the first half.

The Wolverines got a golden opportunity when they recovered a Temple fumble at the Tiger 2 with 2:39 left in the half and they took advantage with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Cameron Bloebaum to Sloan Coolbroth at the 1:44 mark, with Mitch Van Den Eynde making his extra-point kick to make it 17-0.

Kasian further increased the lead early in the second half as he broke a couple of tackles and ran the ball 42 yards for a touchdown, with Van Den Eynde kicking the extra point, to push Walker’s advantage to

24-0 with 8:50 left in the third quarter.

Walker’s defense provided the Wolverines’ final points as Bradley Moore pounced on the ball after a Temple fumble in its own end zone for a touchdown to make it 30-0.

Temple did manage to narrow the gap at the end with Myles Simmons scoring on a 5-yard run with 5:37 remaining in the game and a 4-yard touchdown scamper with 1:27 left.