RUSSELTON — Conor Selinger doesn't talk much.

He prefers to let his play speak for him.

Selinger closed out the game with an 11-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes remaining to give Freeport a 14-10 win over rival Deer Lakes Friday night.

“It feels great,” Selinger said. “In times like this, it's tough, you just have to push through it and know what you're doing. You have to execute and I think that's what we did here.”

Freeport coach John Gaillot gushed about his running back.

“Conor was a beast running the ball up in there,” Gaillot said. “It's just the way he is. He's a man of few words. He's very old school and that's what I love about him. He's a special young man and player for us.”

The Yellowjackets were finally able to close out a close game after being nipped twice early in the season.

Gaillot said it felt good for his players and staff to come out on the winning end of a come-from-behind scenario.

“We had two earlier in the season that slipped away from us,” Gaillot said. “The kids, you could see it in their eyes, with 2-something left.

“I said just from 2:15 left, just give everything like it's your last play.”

Trailing by a fourth-quarter field goal, Freeport (3-3) had to punt with 5 minutes left in the game. But Ricky Hunter booted the ball more than 60 yards to the Deer Lakes 6. It was his third punt over 60 yards in the game.

“He struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season, but that's huge,” Gaillot said.

Freeport's defense held Deer Lakes (3-3) to a three-and-out, and the Lancers' managed only a 23-yard punt to set up the Yellowjackets at the Lancers 23.

Selinger did the rest — on both offense and defense.

On Deer Lakes' final drive after Freeport went ahead, Selinger intercepted a pass. One the first offensive play, he then rumbled 10 yards for a first down and the Yellowjackets ran out the clock.

Freeport quarterback Austin Romanchak led the Yellowjackets offense in the first half, scoring on 74-yard run in the first quarter to give Freeport a 7-0 lead.

Selinger saw more action in the second half and was finding space.

Selinger said the change in focus from Romanchak to him was something the offensive coaches came up with at halftime.

“We went into halftime, and we came up with a new game plan and blocking scheme,” he said. “The line really got to that and they took care of their jobs.”

Deer Lakes quarterback Aris Hasley kept Freeport's secondary busy. Hasley attempted 40 passes, connecting on 17 of them for 206 yards and a touchdown.

But Freeport intercepted him twice, and a number of passes barely slipped through the Yellowjackets' fingers several other times throughout the game.

“We were there. The coverage was there,” Gaillot said.

Deer Lakes's only touchdown pass by Hasley came shortly after a pass interference call on the Yellowjackets.

Gaillot said even after the game-tying touchdown, the secondary stayed focused.

“Our kids continued to play,” he said.

In the second half, Deer Lakes used its passing game to set up the run, but Freeport's defensive coaches made adjustments there, too, Gaillot said.

“We made two little adjustments, and it's a different look, and that's all we needed,” Gaillot said. “And, Conor stayed home and made some plays there.”

Selinger said the game showed that they could close out games. He said it took an all-around effort, and he was proud of his team for staying tough down the stretch.

“Deer Lakes was always a big rival for us, and we knew this was their big of the year,” Selinger said. “We just played with our hearts and came out on top.”

Freeport 7 0 0 7 — 14

Deer Lakes 0 0 7 3 — 10

First Quarter

F — Austin Romanchak 74 run (Ricky Hunter kick), 6:22

Third Quarter

DL — Jack Hollibaugh 21 pass from Aris Hasley (Nick Caro kick), 8:48

Fourth Quarter

DL — Caro 41 field goal, 11:55

F — Conor Selinger 11 run (Hunter kick), 1:41

Individual Statistics

Rushing:Freeport, Austin Romanchak 14-135, Conor Selinger 14-61, Garrett Schaffhauser 1-3. Deer Lakes, Aris Hasley 2-47, Isaiah Yoder 13-44.

Passing:Freeport, Austin Romanchak 5-12-63-2, Garrett Schaffhauser 0-1-0-0. Deer Lakes, Aris Hasley 17-40-206-2

Receiving:Freeport, Evan McCrea 2-30, Josh Bollinger 2-17, Garrett Schaffhauser 1-16. Deer Lakes, Jack Hollibaugh 5-77, Christian Claus 3-45, Ethan Bender 5-44, Zac Herbinko 1-32, Jared Colton 3-8.