BUFFALO TWP — If last year is any indication, Freeport's new football stadium is in for a memorable debut Friday night.

The Yellowjackets (1-0) will play their first game in their on-campus stadium at 7 p.m. Friday when they host rival Deer Lakes (1-0).

“We've already had a scrimmage there, so now we're just down to two football teams playing each other,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said. “There may be a standing room only crowd on hand, so the atmosphere will be interesting.

“But our focus is on Deer Lakes. Anyone would be a fool to look past them. They've got so many weapons at the skilled positions ... They're a carbon copy of us last year.”

Freeport owns a whopping 38-5 lead in the series between the teams and has defeated the Lancers five times in a row. The latest victory was a 32-25 decision last season.

“We were trying to kick a game-winning field goal, they blocked it and returned it for the winning score at the end of the game,” Deer Lakes coach Steve Sciullo said. “That was a tough one to swallow.

“We graduated a big line from last year and have skilled people back. They graduated a bunch of skilled people and have a solid line back. It's interesting how that works out in high school football.”

The Lancers are coming off a 6-4 season — reaching the WPIAL playoffs for the second time in school history — and getting off to their first-ever 4-0 start.

“Those are some of the little things you need to accomplish to build a program,” Sciullo said. “We don't want to have a good team. We want to have a good program.

“People think this is the same old Deer Lakes. It's not.”

While Freeport is coming off a 49-14 win at Vincentian, Deer Lakes opened its season with a 35-14 triumph over Apollo Ridge. Quarterback David Fleming — a transfer from Vincentian — threw for 203 yards and ran for 80 more.

Jake Spirnock, a 6-foot-3 receiver, caught five passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Solomon carried the ball 19 times for 102 yards and three scores.

“Their line is a little smaller than last year, but those kids can move,” Gaillot said. “They have fast kids and tall receivers who can catch the ball. Their quarterback is doing an outstanding job.”

The Yellowjackets aren't doing badly in their own right.

Andrew Romanchak, who won the quarterback job in camp, rushed for 98 yards and threw two touchdown passes against Vincentian. Conor Selinger, a sophomore, had nine carries for 100 yards and a pair of scores.

Mike Delk, expected to be Freeport's primary back, missed the game with a finger injury.

“He's going to miss a couple of weeks and will have to fight for playing time when gets back,” Gaillot said. “We've got a lot of kids stepping up right now.

“Our practices leading up to last week didn't lead me to believe we'd play like we did. The kids really came together. Andrew showed moves running the ball I never knew he had.”

Gaillot also lauded the versatile efforts of linemen Austin Kemp, Matt Charlton, Noah Freeman and Travis Wisniewski.

“We shuffled some people around and they came up big,” Gaillot said.

Now Deer Lakes is coming to town looking to earn more respect.

“Freeport has tough, hard-working kids who play to the whistle,” Sciullo said. “We'll have to match that intensity come Friday.”