LOWER BURRELL —Freeport coach John Gaillot had a lot on his plate going into Friday night.

His Yellowjackets were in the midst of clinching their first Allegheny Conference title and playoff berth since 2012.

Gaillot wasn't focused on that, instead he was focused on the game being played before him.

Freeport kept its mind on the task at hand, clinching the outright conference title with a dominating 46-7 win over Burrell.

Freeport (7-1, 6-1) seemed to have two different teams in each half.

“I was disappointed in the first half,” Gaillot said.

Freeport struggled to move the ball in the first half with quarterback Ryan Weigold missing his first four passes and running back Ian Miller being limited on the amount of touches he had.

In the second quarter, Freeport finally scored on an 11-yard pass from Weigold to senior tight end Josh Beale.

Burrell answered back with a run-heavy drive of their own, converting on two fourth downs before scoring with a two-yard push by Austin Hatbob.

In the waning minutes of the half, the Yellowjackets took advantage of good field position near midfield.

Weigold threw two consecutive 23-yard passes to Beale and Brandon Hochbein to set up Weigold's own one-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left, giving Freeport a 13-7 lead going into the locker room.

After the Yellowjackets took the field for the second half, both sides of the ball got hot on that chilly night.

Freeport running back Ian Miller ran for a 43-yard touchdown rush to start the Yellowjackets' possession.

Miller had two more rushes for 40-plus yards, and scored again later in the third quarter with a three-yard run.

“With our offense, we've got plenty of weapons,” said Miller who ran for 163 yards to go with the pair of touchdowns. “I'm just glad I stepped up when I needed to. It was up to me to help move the ball a little bit.”

Miller said the offensive line's growing maturity has led to successes on the ground game throughout the season.

“They're real strong kids. They get smarter and smarter every game and that makes it easier to run,” he said.

Hochbein and Justin Brestensky scored with touchdown-scoring runs of their own to ice the game by the time the fourth quarter was beginning.

Jacob Sarver threw a 56-yard touchdown pass of his own late in the fourth quarter to wide receiver Evan McCrea. It was Sarver's only throw of the night.

Freeport's defense also had a stellar night, allowing only 67 yards of total offense.

Logan Thimons had five sacks on the night, breaking Freeport's single-season record for most sacks of 13, per Gaillot. Thimons now has 14 sacks on the season.

Despite the playoff clinch and the Yellowjackets' numbers, Gaillot said the team needs to “fix some things” before next week's game at Valley.

“We were not happy the way we started,” Gaillot said. “We executed better in that second half.”

Burrell coach Dave Bellinotti said Freeport's team had more advantages, including size, speed and experience.

“They're well-coached and they made adjustments. Then they got after us,” Bellinotti said. “In the second half, we let the wheels fall off.”