By REID TUCKER
Spring football games are rarely as exciting as the one between Freeport and Vernon, and it was the Bulldogs’ hard-hitting effort on both sides of the ball that made it so.
Freeport ably handled Vernon, handing the Yellowjackets a stinging 20-zip outcome on the night of May 21, sweet revenge for the 40-8 loss suffered by the ‘Dogs in last season’s kickoff classic. The way Freeport achieved its victory was, in a word, impactful. The Bulldogs blasted Vernon off the line on nearly every play with their vastly improved defense while a fleet-footed offense hammered out touchdowns on three of five possessions.
No matter how nice it was to get a clean-sweep win before summer break, there were some rough patches in the game. Freeport gave up three fumbles against Vernon (all but one was recovered by the Bulldogs) and the club’s passing game was practically nonexistent, with quarterback Zack Seay bringing in 24 yards on a 1-for-2 showing while Fort Walton Beach transfer Grant Kennedy was 1-for-1 with 13 yards through the air. Head coach Jim Anderson and his staff were as watchful as ever, pointing out these spots are in need of polishing if the Bulldogs are to mount a resurgent 2015 campaign after the team went 4-16 the last two years.
“The effort put forward tonight by the boys was really great,” Anderson said. “They felt very coachable, so we were able to get a lot out of them. We’re still a long way from where we need to be in October and November, but it sure is good to get off to this kind of a start.”
What a start it was, as, pre-pre-season foibles notwithstanding, the Bulldogs put on a heck of a show against a team that blanked them in two meetings in 2014. Kennedy proved himself early when he popped Vernon’s Tristian Porter (2-for-2, 39 yards) so hard the ‘Jackets QB  had to be sidelined the rest of the game with a fairly serious injury, halting a five-play drive to the 3-yard line just minutes into the first quarter. With Porter off the field, the Bulldogs well and truly went to work – junior Chris Decker scooped up a fumble and stormed his way downfield on a 92-yard return for a touchdown with 10:17 still to play in the period.
Freeport hook-and-laddered three times before Weston Bates put the ball in Kennedy’s hands for the conversion and the 8-nothing Bulldogs lead. They never looked back from there on out, holding Vernon to a turnover on downs at the 43, then eating up the rest of the quarter and three minutes into the second before Vernon go the ball back on its own 13-yard line. The Freeport defense was stout during the ensuing 13-play drive, with the Yellowjackets getting no closer than the 20 before the end of the half.
The Bulldogs scored again during their first possession after the break, with Decker (10 carries, 64 yards) and Seay (14 carries, 105 yards) putting together a string of eight plays ending in a 24-yard pass from Seay to Kennedy for a 14-0 lead with 6:30 to go. Vernon turned the ball over again after replacement QB Justin Oge was sacked twice – for nine yards each time, and all the way back to Vernon 2-yard line. Seay put the ball in the end zone with 46 seconds left in the quarter on a run of 29 yards, but the two-point conversion attempt was no good.
The fourth quarter was a hodgepodge of good and bad for both sides, as Vernon suffered another sack and turnover on downs, while Freeport coughed up a fumble recovered by the Yellowjackets near midfield. Vernon got basically nowhere before fumbling the ball again with 7:00 showing, but Freeport, try as it might, couldn’t strike pay dirt in the remaining minutes. Kennedy passed the ball down to the 30, entrusting Bates, Kyle Simmons, and Nick Carroll with getting the ball to first-and-goal on the 10.
Decker used three carries to move the ball to the 5-yard line, such was the spontaneously staunch line defense of Vernon in the later stages of the game, but he couldn’t cross into the EZ as the time ran out on the contest.