Football - Freeport vs Derry

Derry Sputters in First Half, Rebounds to Beat Freeport in OT

Call it a tale of two opposite halves, plus 12 seconds. Derry Area was forced to hit the road for their conference opener, traveling to Freeport Area Athletic Stadium to meet the host Yellowjackets. For the first half of action, plus 12 additional seconds, it seemed like the Trojans left all the things they do well on the grass in Latrobe's Memorial Stadium last week in their Week Zero win over Latrobe's Wildcats. More about the 12 seconds later.

After Freeport won the coin toss and deferred, Derry took the opening kickoff and promptly turned the ball over to the Yellowjackets with a fumble. Freeport didn't take long to make a statement on the importance of this Class 3A conference game, scoring on a Patrick Keeley to Austin Romanchak 26-yard toss for a touchdown at 9:42 of the opening frame. Up 7-0 already, Freeport picked up a gift on another Derry turnover, marching deep into the red zone where a Ricky Hunter field goal was attempted, but a Trojans' roughing penalty gave Freeport four new downs to work with from close. The four new downs resulted in no points as the Derry defense stepped up, and neither team put up any more points before the two bands took the field to perform for the crowd during intermission. 

Freeport started the second half like the first, as Austin Romanchak took the kickoff to the house as the aforementioned 12 seconds ticked off the clock and the Yellowjackets were up 13-0 after the extra point kick was blocked. But Derry wasn't having it that way for this half, as their running game got into gear and their defense toughened. The Trojans got their first points as they methodically pounded their way down the field, scoring on Colton Nemcheck's 3-yard run with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter, and added the bonus point off the foot of Jordan Webb, to trail Freeport 13-7. It didn't take long for Derry to cut that deficit to zero, as Justin Flack broke free and scampered 56 yards with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter and the score was tied after the extra point attempt failed. The fourth quarter looked like someone would break the stalemate eventually, and Derry thought they had done so twice in the final minute. After driving deep into Freeport territory with under a minute remaining, Nemcheck took a handoff and carried a gaggle of bodies with him as he fell over the goal line, but the football didn't make the trip with him. Freeport recovered the fumble on the 1 yard line and went to work to get some breathing room and avoid a safety. Romanchak lined up under center and called his own number, and while the Derry defense celebrated a wishful safety as he fell back into his own end zone, the officials ruled that his forward progress took him over his own goal line and the safety was never signaled. A Derry penalty after the play moved the ball out of the shadows of the goal posts and Freeport ran out the clock to get a fresh crack at the Trojans from the short field used in overtime play.

Derry took the first possession of overtime and got to work for their attempt to break the deadlock. Chipping away with their ground game, Derry hit paydirt on 4th down as Onreey Steward dove over the goal line to score from the 2-yard line. The kick attempt was no good, and the Trojans were forced to rely on their defense to keep Freeport from stealing the victory. The Yellowjackets appeared to do just that as Evan McCrea got wide open behind the defense in the end zone and grabbed a wide open pass, but a holding penalty not only negated the score but added unwanted yardage to the line of scrimmage for Freeport in their 4 downs of overtime. Forced to go to the air early, the Jackets never got close enough for one of their backs to run it in, as the game ended when Justin Flack intercepted Romanchak's desperation toss into the end zone on 4th down. Derry's comeback of 19 unanswered points was old school Derry football; pound the rock on offense and plug the gaps on defense. 

Derry improves to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in Big East section play. Freeport gets the first tally on their record, dropping to 0-1 overall and in the section. Derry hosts South Park next week, while Freeport will have another tough out on their hands at North Catholic.        

Watch this link for a full gallery of action photos available for purchase or sharing the day after the game. 

Derry's Justin Flack (42) gets by Freeport's Brodey Woods (8) and runs 56 yards for a Trojans' touchdown during the third quarter to tie the game at 13-13 on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018 at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium.