By REID TUCKER
The time on the clock moved quickly but excessive penalties levied against both sides made the on-field action a grind for most of the first three quarters of Freeport’s home game against Wewahitchka.
What resulted was an odd admixture of tepid action but breakneck pace, as, had it not been for the combined 17 flags being thrown and the 132 yards lost to penalties, the Sept. 4 game may have ended up one of the fastest in a long time. The Bulldogs, for example, gave up 45 yards in penalties in the first half alone, and Wewa wasn’t far behind. As it turned out, Freeport ended up with marginally fewer yards lost to penalties – 64 for the Bulldogs versus 68 for the Gators .
More Importantly, Freeport secured an 18-12 win over the Gators, who had held onto a 6-nothing lead from the end of the first quarter until 3:15 to go in the third. Though the turning point of the contest was a pair of Freeport touchdowns resulting from two Wewa turnovers, the second of which was a 59-yard fumble return by Bulldog quarterback Zack Seay, the key to victory was really excising the penalties.
Freeport head coach Jim Anderson succinctly said he spent the halftime break taking his players to task over the flight of so many yellow flags. The locker room talking-to must have worked, because the ‘Dogs not only came back but kept their hard-fought lead to pick up the win to make them 1-1 early in the 2015 season.
“I got on their butts, because the penalties were killing us,” Anderson said. “We had to cut out the penalties, continue to block and hold on to the football. We know there’s things we still have to work on, but I’m proud of our guys and our coaches. Tonight was an excellent win. We needed it.”
The first quarter was back-and-forth between gains and negative yardage due to penalties. Wewa and Freeport both had to punt once, and the Bulldogs failed to convert on the 37-yard line to give the Gators the ball with 5:37 left in the period. QB Trace Flowers (15 carries, 113 yards rushing, 3-for-10 for 55 yards passing) and a few of his comrades moved the ball down to the Freeport 27 before he passed and then ran his way into the end zone for the first score of the night with 1:15 remaining. Freeport’s Aaron Parker more than did his part to keep Wewa from going up by seven, as he burst across the distance and swatted the ball down to block the point-after kick attempt.
Then came a nearly two-quarter scoring drought. Neither Freeport nor Wewa got much past their own 44-yard line in the second quarter, though the time flew by thanks to the run-heavy offense favored by both squads. Flowers probably should have stuck with keeper plays, as a pass intended for one of his receivers deep in Freeport territory turned into an interception, as Grant Kennedy snatched down the ball with 10:33 to go in Q3. The ‘Dogs then proceeded to use Chris Decker, Austin Vinson, Weston Bates and Stephen Carroll to run a 14-play series, culminating in a 2-yard lunge across the goal line from Decker for the tying score with 3:15 left.
Seay missed the pass for a two-point conversion, but he quickly redeemed himself when he walloped Flowers, who was running with the ball on Wewa’s first snap after the kickoff, popping the football skyward. Seay stripped the ball behind the 50 and ran in for a touchdown to give Freeport a 12-6 lead at the 2:51 mark, although the two-point conversion attempt was once more a no-go.
Wewa didn’t take it lying down though, and Flowers made up for his own blunder by completing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Kaleb Shiver on the first play of the possession. However, Freeport kept the Gators from gaining a scant lead, as he blocked Peter Setterich’s point-after kick attempt to knot the score 12-all, which is where it would stay until the end of the period.
The Bulldogs marched downfield to the 20 in the closing minutes of the third quarter, and Seay punched the ball in from 10 yards out less than a minute into the fourth, but his run for two extra points was stopped short to make it 18-12. Wewa turned the ball over on downs in both its next possessions, never getting closer than the 15 before having even those threatening gains called back due to penalties. Freeport got the ball back with 2:41 to go and then basically killed the clock and took a knee to end the game.
Decker led the Bulldogs in offensive yardage, hauling in 158 yards on 24 carries on the night.
Freeport will face its first big test of the 2015 campaign this week when the Bulldogs travel to Bonifay to take on the physically very touchy Holmes County Blue Devils on their own turf.
The time on the clock moved quickly but excessive penalties levied against both sides made the on-field action a grind for most of the first three quarters of Freeport’s home game against Wewahitchka.
What resulted was an odd admixture of tepid action but breakneck pace, as, had it not been for the combined 17 flags being thrown and the 132 yards lost to penalties, the Sept. 4 game may have ended up one of the fastest in a long time. The Bulldogs, for example, gave up 45 yards in penalties in the first half alone, and Wewa wasn’t far behind. As it turned out, Freeport ended up with marginally fewer yards lost to penalties – 64 for the Bulldogs versus 68 for the Gators .
More Importantly, Freeport secured an 18-12 win over the Gators, who had held onto a 6-nothing lead from the end of the first quarter until 3:15 to go in the third. Though the turning point of the contest was a pair of Freeport touchdowns resulting from two Wewa turnovers, the second of which was a 59-yard fumble return by Bulldog quarterback Zack Seay, the key to victory was really excising the penalties.
Freeport head coach Jim Anderson succinctly said he spent the halftime break taking his players to task over the flight of so many yellow flags. The locker room talking-to must have worked, because the ‘Dogs not only came back but kept their hard-fought lead to pick up the win to make them 1-1 early in the 2015 season.
“I got on their butts, because the penalties were killing us,” Anderson said. “We had to cut out the penalties, continue to block and hold on to the football. We know there’s things we still have to work on, but I’m proud of our guys and our coaches. Tonight was an excellent win. We needed it.”
The first quarter was back-and-forth between gains and negative yardage due to penalties. Wewa and Freeport both had to punt once, and the Bulldogs failed to convert on the 37-yard line to give the Gators the ball with 5:37 left in the period. QB Trace Flowers (15 carries, 113 yards rushing, 3-for-10 for 55 yards passing) and a few of his comrades moved the ball down to the Freeport 27 before he passed and then ran his way into the end zone for the first score of the night with 1:15 remaining. Freeport’s Aaron Parker more than did his part to keep Wewa from going up by seven, as he burst across the distance and swatted the ball down to block the point-after kick attempt.
Then came a nearly two-quarter scoring drought. Neither Freeport nor Wewa got much past their own 44-yard line in the second quarter, though the time flew by thanks to the run-heavy offense favored by both squads. Flowers probably should have stuck with keeper plays, as a pass intended for one of his receivers deep in Freeport territory turned into an interception, as Grant Kennedy snatched down the ball with 10:33 to go in Q3. The ‘Dogs then proceeded to use Chris Decker, Austin Vinson, Weston Bates and Stephen Carroll to run a 14-play series, culminating in a 2-yard lunge across the goal line from Decker for the tying score with 3:15 left.
Seay missed the pass for a two-point conversion, but he quickly redeemed himself when he walloped Flowers, who was running with the ball on Wewa’s first snap after the kickoff, popping the football skyward. Seay stripped the ball behind the 50 and ran in for a touchdown to give Freeport a 12-6 lead at the 2:51 mark, although the two-point conversion attempt was once more a no-go.
Wewa didn’t take it lying down though, and Flowers made up for his own blunder by completing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Kaleb Shiver on the first play of the possession. However, Freeport kept the Gators from gaining a scant lead, as he blocked Peter Setterich’s point-after kick attempt to knot the score 12-all, which is where it would stay until the end of the period.
The Bulldogs marched downfield to the 20 in the closing minutes of the third quarter, and Seay punched the ball in from 10 yards out less than a minute into the fourth, but his run for two extra points was stopped short to make it 18-12. Wewa turned the ball over on downs in both its next possessions, never getting closer than the 15 before having even those threatening gains called back due to penalties. Freeport got the ball back with 2:41 to go and then basically killed the clock and took a knee to end the game.
Decker led the Bulldogs in offensive yardage, hauling in 158 yards on 24 carries on the night.
Freeport will face its first big test of the 2015 campaign this week when the Bulldogs travel to Bonifay to take on the physically very touchy Holmes County Blue Devils on their own turf.