BUFFALO TWP — John Gaillot has roamed Freeport’s sidelines for nearly two decades.

The longtime Yellowjackets football coach hadn’t seen anything like how his bunch played during a 58-7 home win over Deer Lakes on Friday night.

“It’s kind of surreal at first,” Gaillot said. “(It’s) just like one right after the other. ... I haven’t seen anything like that. This is 18, 19 years I’ve been doing this, and we’ve had some really good performances. But this is unbelievable. The ball bounced our way.”

Quite frequently, actually.

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Freeport tacked points onto the scoreboard via a blocked punt for a safety, a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, an Amos Glenn punt return to the house and two pick-sixes — both by Danny King.

Senior receiver Owen Neistein brought down a 27-yard pass across the field from classmate Drew Ross, too. It was the first time the ’Jackets posted at least 50 points since dropping 62 on Valley in 2022.

Freeport started the game with a 13-play, 63-yard, ground-exclusive march but was stuffed on a fourth-and-goal at the Lancers’ 2-yard line. After spinning its tires, Deer Lakes punted from inside the end zone, with ’Jackets sophomore Luke Selinger racing in from the edge to deflect it out of play.

“I was just going all out and got through,” Selinger said, adding it was his first-ever block. “One of them hit me in the elbow. See? it’s bruising. And then (the other) hit my helmet.”

The second came seconds to go in the first half as the Lancers’ Conner Moore attempted a 33-yard field goal. Junior Bryson Paga scooped up the loose ball on the run and raced untouched for a score as the second frame expired.

“I would say we got a lucky bounce,” Paga said. “I was just trying to drop the trailer. Everyone says, ‘Kick it into the next gear.’ You don’t wanna get caught on that. I just saw daylight and took off.”

Glenn pranced 44 yards for a touchdown on the first play after Selinger’s first block. The next play, Deer Lakes’ Dom Sciubba connected with a wide-open Luca Mangieri for a 78-yard score on a reverse pass.

The Lancers’ starting passer, Dante Mangieri, wasn’t as successful against the Freeport defense. He under-threw a deep ball with under a minute to go in the second quarter, allowing King, in zone coverage, to snag it and rumble down the right sideline with a cavalcade of blockers.

The Lancers went three-and-out for the third time to start the second half. Glenn picked the punt up on one bounce and weaved in front of his sideline to bring it all 63 yards back. Three plays later, Dante Mangieri mistakenly floated the ball to King again while under pressure.

King hadn’t ever had a pick-six.

“Let alone two,” King said, the second being a 44-yard jaunt. “That’s something new to me.”

On a second-and-6 from Deer Lakes’ 27 in the second quarter, Ross spun out of a muddied pocket, rolled left and set his feet short of the line of scrimmage. He fired a pass back to the middle of the field, where Neistein was waiting in the end zone. The wideout held on despite being shoved forcefully onto his back by the Lancers’ Colby Borowski.

“I was like, ‘No!’ Like he could hear me. There’s no way,” Gaillot said. “When he (completed) it, then everybody’s like, ‘Great job!’”

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Glenn barged in for his second ground score from 2 yards out about five minutes earlier. Glenn finished with a game-high 112 yards on 16 carries. Sophomore Paxton Cene had 104 rushing yards on 10 fewer touches, including a 38-yard scamper to cap the scoreboard operator’s night with 4:57 to go.

Deer Lakes 7 0 0 0 — 7

Freeport 9 28 14 7 — 58

First quarter

F — Luke Selinger blocked punt for safety, 2:51

F — Amos Glenn 44 run (Judah Thompson kick), 2:33

DL — Luca Mangieri pass from Dom Sciubba (Conner Moore kick), 2:12

Second quarter

F — Glenn 2 run (Thompson kick), 6:14

F — Owen Neistein pass from Drew Ross (Thompson kick), 1:07

F — Danny King 64 interception return (Thompson kick), 0:45

F — Bryson Paga 68 blocked field goal return (Thompson kick), 0:00

Third quarter

F — Glenn 63 punt return (Thompson kick), 8:35

F — King 44 interception return (Thompson kick), 6:25

Fourth quarter

F — Paxton Cene 38 run (Thompson kick), 4:57

Individual statistics

Rushing, Deer Lakes, Ryan Love 16-39, Jaxon Domyslawski 2-7, Roman Smith 2-6, Nino Spagnolo 2-(-8), Dante Mangieri 1-(-9). Freeport, Amos Glenn 16-112, Paxton Cene 6-104, Drew Ross 11-74, Luke Selinger 2-25, Dawson Gaillot 1-6, Braydon Pomaybo 1-3, Tripp Gourley 1-(-2), Aaden Alcorn 1-(-3).

Passing, Deer Lakes, Dante Mangieri 5-9-59-2, Dom Sciubba 1-1-78-0. Freeport, Drew Ross 4-4-52-0.

Receiving, Deer Lakes, Luca Mangieri 1-78, Colby Borowski 3-32, Ryan Love 1-16, Santino Bogan 1-11. Freeport, Owen Neistein 1-27, Danny King 2-14, Madden Wisniewski 1-11.