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By Bill Beckner Jr.

Published: Friday, October 5, 2012, 10:30 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, November 6, 2012

For the first five games of the season, Burrell looked like it wanted to be the clear front-runner in the Class AA Allegheny Conference.

Freeport begs to differ.

Quarterback Brendan Lynch ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, and Freeport's defense intercepted three passes as the 10th-ranked Yellowjackets flattened No. 6 Burrell, 26-7, on Friday night at Buccaneer Stadium.

“We showed up tonight,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said. “Our kids were motivated by something they read in the paper this week. It's no disrespect to who wrote it, but it fired us up.”

Lynch rushed for 139 yards, scored on runs of 80 and 38 yards and passed for 101 yards for Freeport (5-1, 5-1).

“Our defensive coordinator, coach (Todd) Durand had a great gameplan ready for this game,” Lynch said. “He had us ready to play. Our defensive backs got involved and made some big plays.”

Burrell (5-1, 4-1), meantime, played most of the game without its starting quarterback, James Liput, who left with a possible concussion.

The Bucs came out slow in the second half and its offense was off the field for large chunks of time.

“There was a lot of emotion in this game,” Burrell coach Kevin Horwatt said. “You can't make mistakes like we did. Sometimes, it's a blessing in disguise. Freeport got after it and played four quarters.”

Freeport held Burrell star running back Cole Bush to his second-lowest output of the season, and kept the WPIAL's touchdown leader out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter.

Bush ran for 138 yards on 27 carries and scored his 20th touchdown of season with 5:22 left and Freeport well in front.

“He's a phenomenal back,” Gaillot said of Bush. “We had a gameplan to try and slow him down and I'm proud of our kids' effort.”

Mike Teorsky added a touchdown run and intercepted a pass, and Travis Hall and Alec Stivers also picked off passes for Freeport, which scored 19 fourth-quarter points.

Burrell had to play most of the first half without Liput, who left after the last play of the first quarter.

“Any time you lose your quarterback it's a tough loss,” Horwatt said.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at bbeckner@tribweb.com.

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