Freeport cruises past rival Baldwin

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Freeport had its myriad of dynamic offensive weapons on display for a third straight week last Saturday and they paved the way to a 37-7 victory over visiting Baldwin in a Nassau Conference I football game between the longtime neighboring rivals.

Senior quarterback Rashad Tucker passed for three touchdowns, including a pair to junior Aaje Grayson, and added a defensive interception on the game’s opening series to lead the Red Devils to their third win in as many tries. The Bruins (1-2) struggled with their passing offense and were unable to overcome missed opportunities in the red zone.

“It feels good,” said Tucker, who also had a punt return for a touchdown called back on a penalty. “We always get excited to play Baldwin,” he added. “We have a lot of weapons, but our weapons wouldn’t work without the blocking up front. I could tell from how hard they worked over the summer that our linemen were going to come up big.”

Tucker came up big just over a minute into the game, picking off a pass by senior counterpart Norman Wilson at Baldwin’s 15-yard line. Three plays later, with just 2:27 of clock elapsed, Freeport had a 7-0 lead on senior Jahred Wray’s 4-yard touchdown run and senior kicker Will Presbrey’s extra point.

The Bruins managed just one first down on their first three possessions combined and trailed 14-0 after Grayson’s 35-yard touchdown reception on the final snap of the opening quarter. Tucker found Grayson in single coverage along the visiting sideline and all but 10 of the yards came after the catch. 

“They’ve got exceptional speed that we couldn’t simulate in practice,” Baldwin head coach Steve Carroll said. “We knew we could move the ball, and we did a decent job in the first half. But we just couldn’t finish drives.”

Baldwin’s lone scoring drive began at its own 45 following a long kickoff return by senior Luis Fernandez to start the second quarter and featured two fumble recoveries. Senior Jonathan Debique, who a week earlier rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns to lead a 36-28 triumph over Hempstead, recovered his own fumble at the Freeport 38 to maintain possession. Then, on third-and-1 from the 15, Wilson shed several tackles before fumbling at the 5. The ball rolled into the end zone where junior tight end Thomas Airey pounced on it for a touchdown. Airey added the extra point to make it 14-7, but the Bruins would get no closer.

Senior Jaelin Hood’s dazzling 56-yard touchdown grab — he outraced Baldwin’s entire secondary over the final 20 yards — gave the Red Devils a 21-7 halftime lead. They added a 20-yard field goal by Presbrey and a 4-yard touchdown catch by Grayson in the third quarter, and a 10-yard scoring run by senior Elijah Campbell in the fourth.

“We like to get our guys the ball in the open field,” said Freeport head coach Russ Cellan, who said this Friday’s 6 p.m. kickoff at defending county champion Farmingdale will be the biggest game on Long Island.