Freedom falls to Neshannock 54-20 in one sided affair @FHSPress

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Dylan Scheel | September 25, 2020

Senior quarterback Cole Beck prepares to throw ball on Freedoms first drive of game

On Sept. 25 the Freedom Bulldogs went up against the Neshannock Lancers looked to keep there momentum going from their 21-0 victory against Riverside the previous week.

The game started with the Freedom Bulldogs receiving the kickoff. The Lancers played great defense and forced a Freedom punt. And just four  minutes thirteen seconds into the game, the Lancers took this punt  back all the way to the end zone to open the scoring for the night and make the score 7-o. This concluded the scoring in the first quarter though,  and both defenses were able to keep the ball out of the end zone.

The second quarter started with many penalties as both teams picked up many personal fouls. The Lancers forced another punt by the Bulldogs deep in their own end zone. This punt resulted in the Lancers getting the ball at the Bulldogs 35 yard line. The Lancers capitalized on this great field position and scored on a 1 yard quarterback run up the middle, to make the score 13-0. The Neshannock kicker missed the extra point and the score stayed the same.

Freedom needed to score to get the momentum, and they did just that. On fourth down the Bulldogs faked a punt and Cole Beck through a 20 yard pass to his receiver. The next play, quarterback Cole Beck finds senior Reiker Welling for Freedoms first touchdown of the game and to make the score 13-7.

Freedom then kicked the ball off to Neshannock and started on defense. Freedom forced a fourth down and thought they were going to get the ball back when Neshannock broke free and scored rushing touchdown to make the score 20-7. On the next Freedom drive, the Lancers  played great defense to get their offense back on the field. However once the offense got on the field, they fumbled and the ball was picked up by Freedom on their own  27 yard line.

On the first play of this drive the Bulldogs took a shot deep and it payed off. Senior Cole Beck found fellow senior Reiker Welling on a 73 yard touchdown catch and his second touchdown of the night.  The extra point was good and the score became 20-14.

The Lancers then got the ball back and started their drive.They answered the Freedom touchdown back in a big way with a large  touchdown run of their own, but missed the extra point. This made the score 26-14 with  nine minutes and 34 second left in the third quarter.

Freedom got the ball but were unable to answer back, because of plays riddled with penalties.  They punted the ball back to the Lancers.  The Lancers then went on to score their third rushing touchdown of the night to make the score 33-14.

Freedom got the ball back after the kick off but immediately turned the ball over on an interception. The lancers ran the ball back to the 27 yard line. Freedom then got called for a personal foul and the ball got moved forward 15 yards putting the Lancers on the 12 yard line. Neshannock punched the ball in on a 12 yard  and took a commanding 40-14 lead.

The Lancers defense again forced the Freedom offense to turn the ball over and the Lancers offense were back on the field. They went on to score yet another rushing touchdown and made the score 47-14 with ten minutes and 58 second left in the game.

Freedom answered back just 53 seconds later however, with a 33 yard touchdown catch by Reiker Welling for his third touchdown of the night. The extra point was not good though due to a missed snap by the Bulldogs. Score – 47-20.

The rest of the fourth quarter had great defense by both teams and the score stayed the same until there was three minutes and 54 seconds left in the game when the Lancers put the final nail on the coffin and scored their fourth touchdown run of the night and made the score 57-20. This was how the game ended.

Freedom looks to bounce back with a win next week against Laurel on Oct. 2.

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