Benedek leads Elizabeth Forward past Freeport in Big East Conference

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 15, 2018 | 12:12 AM

Freeport entered the fourth quarter of Friday’s Big East Conference clash with Elizabeth Forward holding a nine-point lead.

The Yellowjackets were hoping to break into the win column for the first time this season after a pair of setbacks to kick of the campaign.

But the Warriors, behind the feet and arm of senior quarterback Zach Benedek, were able to rally.

Benedek tallied an 11-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter and added a 36-yard strike to Nathan Alberts with 6 minutes, 14 seconds left to give the Warriors the lead.

The EF defense then made a late stop to preserve a 27-21 victory.

“We like challenges,” said Benedek, who intercepted a pass to set up the Warriors’ game-winning drive.

“I said in the locker room that we had to do this as a team. We still have a lot of things to fine tune, but hopefully we’ll get that in practice this week and go into Quaker Valley next week and put up a good fight.”

The Warriors improved to 3-0 overall and in league play. It’s their first 3-0 start since 2012.

Freeport, which got 96 yards rushing and 91 passing from senior quarterback Austin Romanchak, fell to 0-3 overall and in the Big East. It’s the Yellowjackets’ first three-game losing skid to start a season since 2007.

“The loss is tough one, but I am proud of the boys,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said. “They fought to the end and put forth the effort we expect from them. We’ve had two close losses, the one to Derry and this one, and that’s adversity. We have to focus on our next game, Uniontown, and get that first ‘W’ and hopefully go on a roll from there.”

Freeport forced an EF punt with two minutes left and had one last chance with the ball. Garret Schaffhauser went in at quarterback and completed a pass to Patrick Keeley and added a 13-yard run to put the Yellowjackets in Warriors territory at the 27.

A personal foul on EF moved Freeport down to the 15, but Benedek came up big one final time and forced a Schaffhauser fumble. After a scrum for the loose ball, Chase Whatton made the recovery for the Warriors near midfield to seal the victory.

“The defense knew we had to rally together,” Benedek said. “We were playing man, and I knew I just had to go after the quarterback.”

Freeport extended a slim lead to 21-12 with 3:09 left in the third quarter on a pass-and-lateral play that covered 33 yards. Romanchak threw 11 yards to Evan McCrea who then lateraled the ball back to Keeley who ran the final 22 yards for the score.

Romanchak and senior Conor Selinger had scoring runs of 12 and 3 yards, respectively, in the first half as Freeport led 14-6 at the break.

Selinger returned to the lineup after a leg injury kept him out for most of the opener against Derry and last week’s contest against North Catholic. He finished with 14 carries for 33 yards.

Benedek threw for 157 yards and added 115 on the ground.

He connected with Alberts on a 46-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter. The score came on the first play of the drive after EF blocked a Freeport punt. Alberts finished with three catches for 94 yards.

“Benedek is just an excellent athlete,” Gaillot said. “He has a canon for an arm and is a very elusive runner.”

Dontae Gilbert added 91 yards on 11 carries for the Warriors. All of his carries and yards came in the second half.

McCrea finished with three catches for 69 yards for the Yellowjackets.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Freeport