Multiple stings
FREEPORT — Two seasons ago, Freeport quarterback Brendan Lynch threw for more than 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns as a sophomore.
Last season, Damon Smith rushed for almost 1,400 yards and 18 scores as a junior.
What can this duo provide the Yellowjackets as seniors this year? The Allegheny Conference may not be too eager to find out.
“It's going to be a mixture,” said Freeport coach John Gaillot. “We probably won't run Damon as much. We need others to step up.
“Our senior group, they've taken the younger kids and shown them how it's done,” Gaillot added.
Freeport, co-section champions with Shady Side Academy last season, return eight starters on both sides of the ball this year and will be aiming for its fifth consecutive WPIAL Class AA playoff appearance.
It all starts with Lynch, who passed for 596 yards and seven TD a year ago but added 432 yards rushing and seven more scores while Smith proved to be a sturdy workhorse with 242 carries last year.
“I was expected to do big things after my sophomore year, but Damon stepped up,” Lynch said. “He's such a great runner. We decided that the offense would revolve around him. We just wanted to do whatever to help us win.
“This year, we'll be running and passing. I'm willing to give the ball to Damon as much we can or I'm willing to run as much as I can,” he added.
“As a defense, you have to have a game plan,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we're not as one-dimensional. As the season goes on, I'll just appreciate the opportunities that coach gives me.”
Look for seniors Mike Teorsky, Travis Hall, Dustin Koedel, junior Josh Brestensky and sophomore Cody Digiacobbe to also get some carries with Brestensky and senior tight end Tony DeVivo among Lynch's top receiving targets.
Seniors Brian Welsh and Shane McKillop will man the right guard and left tackle positions, respectively, while junior Nathan Rummel will serve as right tackle with “eight to 10 boys competing for the center and other guard positions,” Gaillot added.
On defense, Welsh, the conference's co-Defensive Player of the Year, will anchor the linebacker corps, joined by Smith and seniors Josh Wisniewski and Alec Stivers. Along with the four starting linebackers back, so too is the secondary of safeties DeVivo and Koedel and cornerbacks Lynch and Hall.
“Our two defensive ends and defensive tackle we have to fill and (junior) Cam Kelley has stepped up for the defensive end,” Gaillot said. “I'm happy with the defensive guys we have back.”
As usual, the conference will be a battle with not much margin of error.
“We have to take it one day at a time, one game at a time, to get better,” Gaillot said. “We need to play a complete game, from the first snap to the last snap. We can't take plays off. That's human nature to do. That's why we took part in boot camp.
“Guys would tell me they're totally exhausted and totally spent, then they'd do more and say 'Coach, I didn't think I could do that.”
