JEANNETTE — Same conference, new opponent — and, hopefully, a different result for Freeport.

The Yellowjackets (6-3) head to Jeannette (7-2), runner-up in the Interstate Conference, for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA football playoffs.

Freeport faced Interstate league member Greensburg Central Catholic in the first round the past two years, losing 42-6 in Greensburg in 2008 and 35-6 to the Centurions at home last season.

"We're not looking at the past," Freeport coach John Gaillot said. "We always look to the future and what's at hand right now.

"When a season's over, it's in the past. Time to look ahead."

The Jayhawks would just as soon look ahead as well. Jeannette dropped a 21-9 decision to Greensburg Central in a showdown for the Interstate Conference title last week. Jeannette was held to a season-low 142 yards of offense and suffered four turnovers.

Last year, the Jayhawks finished 5-4, missing the playoffs for the first time in 16 years.

"That's unacceptable around here," Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. "It was tough going through that."

They made up for it this year, entering the postseason as the second most prolific scoring team in WPIAL Class AA, averaging 39.8 points per game. Jeannette beat Southmoreland 75-7 and scored 40 or more points against East Allegheny, Waynesburg, Charleroi, Yough and Brownsville during the regular season.

The Jayhawks run the Wing-T and spread the ball around. Darius Brown leads the team with 500 rushing yards. He returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score last week and a punt 42 yards to paydirt the week before.

Junior quarterback Demetrious Cox has thrown for nearly 500 yards, but Jeannette rarely puts the ball in the air.

"We're 80 percent run, 20 percent pass," Hall said. "We have no one with a lot of yards because six or seven guys carry the ball for us.

"We play physical, but not as physical as I'd like us to be. We're athletic and we've got plenty of speed."

Shavonia Craft, Preston Snowden and Michael Penn are other Jeannette backs who will get their hands on the ball.

"This game presents a challenge for our defense," Gaillot said. "We need to be aggressive, yet stay in our lanes and look for cutbacks and misdirection.

"We need to contain those backs to win this game."

Gaillot pointed to Yellowjacket front-seven defenders Cody McClelland, Jon Turner, Ron Doucet and Brian Welsh as being keys.

"Those guys have been consistent all year," the coach said.

Freeport quarterback Brendan Lynch needs 72 yards to reach the 1,000-mark passing. He's thrown only two interceptions all season.

Jake Campbell leads the ground game with 633 yards and 10 TDs. Derek Durand averages 25 yards per catch, snaring 26 aerials for 645 yards and six of Lynch's 10 touchdown passes.

Hall is a 1982 Jeannette graduate who played against Freeport in the 1981 WPIAL playoffs. He was a lineman and team captain.

"They were a physical football team then and they are now," Hall said. "They have nice-sized kids who come right at you.

"They love their football in that area. We have to perform well down low in the trenches. That's where this game will be decided."