JUPITER — Sometimes, a team’s best defense could be their offense.

For Dwyer, that certainly proved to be the case.

Although Dwyer struggled to score points, its offense proved to be exactly that, holding onto the football and keeping the ball out of the hands of Jupiter’s offense. The result was a hard-fought 8-7 victory to open up its season.

“Our best defense was actually our offense because Jupiter did a great job of keeping us off the field,” said Dwyer head coach McKinley Rolle. “We had limited possessions but the kids, they just kept fighting. … Sometimes, the game is going to be like that. We have about seven kids who are out, and that obviously makes it different.”

Dwyer was led on offense by freshman running back Xanai Scott, who came up with multiple big-time runs to keep drives alive for the Panthers offense.

While he didn’t find the end zone – Dwyer’s lone touchdown was a Billy Omahen screen pass to Terel Harris in the first quarter – Scott’s abilities to break tackles and keep plays alive with the ball in his hands were important at multiple points throughout the game.

“It feels great. I just appreciate my blockers because without them, I would be nothing,” said Scott.

Following his performance, Rolle had nothing but good things to say about the performance of Scott.

“He’s a special back. Just a special player,” Rolle said. “Just a freshman, sky’s the limit for him. He’s a big time player. We’re going to try and get him the ball as much as possible, but we have talented players. Xanai has got a great future. He’s a great young man. Yes sir, no sir type, works hard, very quiet and I’m proud of his effort tonight.”

In a sense, you couldn’t tell it was his first game, in front of a sold-out crowd, against a crosstown rival. And for Rolle, there wasn’t much of a need to calm Scott down before the game.

“We just tell him, at the end of the day, we practice hard. We put pressure on our players and we put them into position. We talk about winning each rep, they do it in practice,” Rolle said. “At the end of the day, only thing he did was put on a different jersey.”

Scott’s most important play was arguably Dwyer’s final play.

Facing a 3rd-and-7 late in the fourth quarter, Dwyer called Scott’s number. On an inside hand-off, Scott got good blocking and was able to break free for a first down.

“He was just fortunate his number was called and he made the play,” Rolle said. “We do try and get our guys the ball to make plays but ultimately, his number was called. He stepped up and made a great play.”

The strong offensive performance by Dwyer when considering the circumstances, however, doesn’t mean Jupiter didn’t have chances to put the game away.

Right before halftime, Jupiter left three points on the board, missing a chip shot field goal off the left post. The kick kept the score at 8-7 heading into the break.

The win puts Dwyer in the win column to start its season, and it will look to continue the winning ways on the road against Palm Beach Central next week. Jupiter will be on the road against Park Vista.