RSS 2.0 FeedThursday, November 24, 2011, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
Freeport loses nail-biter to East Meadow
Freeport falls; East Meadow moves on in championship season.
Freeport’s Red Devils football team ended its season Saturday night under the lights at Hofstra with a disappointing 34-33 loss to East Meadow Jets in the Nassau County Class I Championship.
The game was a hard-fought dramatic nail-biter from start to finish. Freeport had some spectacular plays and East Meadow was methodical throughout.
With the score 34-33, Isaiah Barnes connected with Jere Brown to move the ball to its own 30. The Red Devils then drove it to the four-yard line as Barnes hit Brown again. Barnes was sacked on the 4-yard line but couldn’t connect with Leondre Simmon, and the run failed on the final down. The crowd that was on its feet expecting the winning TD was stunned and quiet.
The Jets played a very good game, as did the Red Devils. Simmon scored on a 14-yard pass from Barnes and Freeport was on the score board first. Rob Healy ran for a 13-yard TD to tie the game but the Jets point-after was good, giving them a 7-6 advantage. Brown scored next on a 23-yard pass from Barnes and then scored the two-point conversion to go ahead 14-7.
East Meadow scored twice, giving them a 21-14 hard-time lead. The Red Devils were fired up after the break. Evan Lapice scored on a 27-yard pass from Barnes and then scored on a 4-yard run. One kick was good and one failed. Freeport was on top again. Healy scored on a 53-yard pass from Dylan Curry and the Jets extra point was good, too. Freeport’s last offensive effort came on a 23-yard pass from Barnes to Simmon, but the conversion failed. East Meadow scored on a 5-yard run with 4:23 left in the game, putting them ahead 34-33.
Barnes completed 15-for-26 for 320 yards and four TDs. Brown had five big catches for 100 yards and Simmon had 119 yards on five big passes.
Four yards were all the Red Devils needed at the end of the game but it was not to be. It was a great season for a great group of young men, but it wasn’t the ending they wanted.
