Jets grounded by Freeport

What was scheduled as Freeport’s Homecoming looked more like the Fourth of July by the time the final snap rolled around, as the Red Devils (7-0 in Conference I) stormed out to a 22-point halftime lead and kept East Meadow (6-1) at arm’s length following intermission in a 44-29 victory last Saturday.

The Jets were beat up for 543 yards of offense by Freeport, including 245 yards rushing and three touchdowns by senior Maurice Irby, helping offset a 19-carry, 204-yard, four-touchdown effort from East Meadow senior running back Robbie Healy.

“He’s a great back with great vision,” Red Devils head coach Russ Cellan said of Healy who scored on runs of 53, 46 and nine yards and added a touchdown on a 19-yard catch. “On [some] of those tosses we had him shut down but he got leverage and found the creases twice.”

The loss knocked the Jets from the ranks of the unbeaten and put them one game behind the Red Devils with two remaining in the regular season. “In the first half we just got blitzed and didn’t finish a couple of drives,” East Meadow head coach Vin Mascia said. “And we definitely didn’t stop them.”

As impressive as the Red Devils were on offense, their defense turned in just as big a performance. The Jets scored at least 41 points in five of their first six games, but an aggressive scheme held them to just a single touchdown in the first half.

They drove 52 yards to the Freeport 18 late in the second quarter, looking to close a 15-point deficit, converting a fourth down on a quarterback keeper to extend the possession. An incompletion and runs of 6 and 3 yards by Healy to the Red Devils 18, however, set up another fourth-down. The Jets went to their power runner, sophomore Billy Andrle, and he was met at the line of scrimmage by Freeport senior Chris Gutierrez and fell a football length shy of the first-down marker. “It was a great defensive effort,” Cellan said.