Deer Lakes blanks Freeport to clinch playoff spot; Derek Burk sets A-K Valley passing record
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Friday, October 27, 2023 | 10:39 PM
Deer Lakes quarterback Derek Burk throws a 62-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Cochran against Freeport in the second quarter Friday, breaking the A-K Valley passing record.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love pulls in a long pass past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski to set up a second-quarter touchdown Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Derek Burk avoids Freeport’s Dawson Gaillot on the way to a second-quarter touchdown Friday.
Freeport’s Brady Sullivan keeps Deer Lakes’ Ryan Cochran out of the end zone in the first quarter Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Nick Rossi drops Freeport’s Grady Sullivan for a third-quarter loss Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love pulls in a long pass past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski to set up a second-quarter touchdown Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Zach Grant avoids Freeport’s Cyprian Selinger in the first quarter Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Zier Williams celebrates with Ryan Cochran after Cochran’s 62-yard touchdown against Freeport in the second quarter Friday.
Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski pulls in a pass over Deer Lakes’ Zach Grant in the second quarter Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Derek Burk takes off down the sideline past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski and Danny King (8) in the first quarter Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Ryan Cochran avoids Freeport’s Danny King on the way to a 62-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter Friday.
Freeport’s Dawson Gaillot sacks Deer Lakes’ Derek Burk in the first quarter Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Dom Sciubba hits Freeport’s Colton Otterman after a second-quarter catch Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love pulls in a long pass past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski to set up a second-quarter touchdown Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love pulls in a long pass past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski to set up a second-quarter touchdown Friday.
Deer Lakes’ Zier Williams scores a third-quarter touchdown past Deer Lakes’ Joey Ashi on Friday.
All Deer Lakes needed to do to qualify for its fourth trip to the WPIAL playoffs was to defeat rival Freeport in the teams’ Allegheny 6 Conference (Class 3A) finale Friday.
The Lancers did just that.
Deer Lakes scored three touchdowns in the first half while holding Freeport off the board. The Lancers maintained control in the second half with two additional TDs and finished off a 35-0 victory over the Yellowjackets at Lancers Stadium in West Deer.
“My heart goes out to our guys because they have worked so hard, and they deserve it,” Deer Lakes coach Tim Burk said. “A lot of the older guys had some tough times three or four years ago. They bounced back, and look at where we are right now. I am just super proud. And any time you can beat a talented rival like Freeport, it’s always a plus.”
Deer Lakes locked up the No. 3 spot from the conference with a 3-2 mark and improved to 7-3 overall. The Lancers will find out their playoff fate at 3 p.m. Saturday when the WPIAL releases the brackets.
The Lancers, in addition to punching their ticket to the postseason, also snapped a 12-game losing streak to Freeport.
The Yellowjackets needed a win Friday to stay in the hunt for the WPIAL playoffs. However, they concluded their season at 3-7 overall, 1-4 in the conference.
“All we ask of the kids is to keep battling, and they did that all game and all season,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said.
“Deer Lakes is a very, very good team, and I wish them all the best in the playoffs. It wasn’t for lack of effort on our kids’ part. It was a different team than last year, losing a lot of seniors. But the guys grew up a lot. I just told them that I love them, and I was proud of their effort.”
Deer Lakes senior Derek Burk completed 11 of 18 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. He established an Alle-Kiski Valley all-time career passing yards record in the second quarter, surpassing 2022 Highlands graduate Chandler Thimons’ previous mark of 5,014.
Burk now stands at 5,122 yards for his career.
“In no way could I have gotten that just by myself,” he said. “We did it together, me, the line, my receivers, guys like Zier (Williams) running hard to pull the defense up to open the pass. It’s everybody working together. I’m really happy it came playing with these guys.”
Williams came in to the game 97 yards shy of 1,000 for the season. He reached that milestone mark on his last carry, a 10-yard burst for a first down with about four minutes left.
He finished with a pair of touchdowns and 102 yards on 14 carries.
“I am so proud of Zier,” Tim Burk said. “He ran tough tonight.”
Williams’ second TD of the game, a 3-yard run with 7:13 left in the third quarter coupled with Noah Shurina’s fourth point-after kick, extended Deer Lakes’ lead to 28-0.
The Lancers capped the scoring with 3:46 left in the fourth as Burk connected with fellow senior Wayne Love for 12 yards.
Freeport threatened late in the third quarter and set up with a first-and-10 at the Deer Lakes 12. But an intentional grounding call on sophomore quarterback Drew Ross on second-and-4 and two straight Ross incompletions halted the drive.
“If this is our last home game of the season and last one for the seniors, what a way to go out,” Derek Burk said. “Hopefully, we do get a home playoff game next week.”
Deer Lakes struck first with 5 seconds left in the first quarter.
Williams capped a five-play drive with a 1-yard run. Burk scampered 39 yards on a keeper to the Freeport 10, and Burk then completed a pass to senior Ryan Cochran to the 1 to set up the TD.
Burk’s record-breaking pass and yardage — a 62-yard connection with Cochran early in the second quarter — extended the Lancers lead to two scores.
After forcing a Freeport punt, the Lancers drove to the Freeport 13, where Burk found junior Zach Grant in the end zone for the score. Shurina’s third PAT kick of the half lifted Deer Lakes to a 21-0 lead.
Freeport got the ball inside the Deer Lakes 10 on 12 plays late in the first half. Two cracks from the 3 on third and fourth downs yielded no yards. The Lancers took over and ran out the final 36 seconds of the half.
“Freeport is a good team, and they are well-coached,” Tim Burk said.
“That stop by (junior inside linebacker) Sam Guthrie (on fourth down) was unbelievable. He played out of his mind tonight. He has been that way all season. Everyone sold out tonight and played for the name on the front of the jersey.”
Love finished with four catches for 73 yards, Cochran had three grabs for 78 and Grant tallied four catches for 49.
Ross threw for 114 yards, and Yellowjackets senior wideout Brady Sullivan hauled in seven passes for 56 yards.
“We had an intensity in practice all week,” Derek Burk said. “We hadn’t beaten Freeport in a really long time. We came into the game with a passion and wanted to impose our dominance.”
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Deer Lakes, Freeport
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