Freeport football’s Camden Schlegel is making up for lost time as Yellowjackets eye WPIAL playoff run
This football season is flying by for Camden Schlegel.
Schlegel tore his ACL playing lacrosse in the spring of his sophomore year, an injury that shelved him on the gridiron for his junior year. He returned to the lacrosse field in the spring, which got him more comfortable planting and making cuts with his since-healed knee.
Now he’s enjoying his senior football season for a Freeport football team (5-1, 1-1 Allegheny 7 Conference) that’s off to a fast start.
“I talk to my friends about how it's already Week 7,” the Freeport senior receiver/outside linebacker said. “Especially since I missed my junior year, it made me really realize that I don't have much time left. So I have been definitely trying to savor these games and moments with my friends and just playing as much as I can.”
Schlegel is one of the Yellowjackets’ leading receivers and makes plays at linebacker.
Ahead of Friday night’s home clash against Valley, Schlegel paces the Yellowjackets with 285 receiving yards on nine catches — a 31.7-yard average. He’s caught a pair of touchdowns and, on the other side of the ball, has notched four sacks.
Schlegel didn’t play much on the offensive side of the football as a sophomore, so it was unclear how good a pass catcher he would become. But he got the reps in the summer and entered the season as an unknown on opposing scouting reporters.
He took advantage of catching those defenses off guard, starting the season with three catches for 69 yards and a touchdown in a 22-0 win over Indiana.
“I'm just really happy for him, because he had to sit and watch,” Freeport head coach John Gaillot said. “I know (defensive coordinator) Todd Durand, he had multiple knee injuries, too, and he goes, ‘Just soak it all up.’”
A lot of Schlegel's receiving yards have come by way of the deep ball. Schlegel had a 62-yard touchdown grab last week in a 17-14 win over Mt. Pleasant.
“(Quarterback Danny King has) been hitting me in stride, and I’ve been catching them on the run and just going,” Schlegel said.
Schlegel also has 31 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and two blocked punts. He and fellow wideout and “bookend” outside linebacker Bryson Paga (49 tackles and four sacks on defense, 14 catches and 250 yards on offense) make for a good pair on both sides of the ball.
“(It) is huge to have that duo together again,” Gaillot said.
Despite missing his junior year, Schlegel is considering looking for an opportunity to play in college.
For now, though, Schlegel is focused on helping the ’Jackets get a favorable seed in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs and make a run in the postseason.
“He just has a different mindset knowing that the next play could be your last,” Gaillot said.
