BUFFALO TWP — Freeport senior Jacksen Reiser wasn’t ready to wave the white flag on his season. With him back at linebacker, the defensive unit he brings heart and soul to wouldn’t budge.

Visiting Mt. Pleasant made its way into scoring position on three consecutive drives in the first half of Friday night’s non-conference matchup, but the Yellowjackets denied them each time, capitalizing on the failures to build a three-score advantage before halftime.

Freeport came out on top, 24-6, and didn’t allow the Vikings to get on the scoreboard until halfway through the final frame.

“We bend, but we don’t break,” ‘Jackets coach John Gaillot said. “Very few times, we may. We take pride with keeping people out of our endzone.”

Mt. Pleasant was unable to produce points on three of its four red zone trips. The first coming when senior Robbie Labuda — who entered the contest as the WPIAL’s second-leading rusher — hit the left corner of the goalposts on a 34-yard field goal try.

With a blend of option plays, quarterback keepers, and jet sweeps, the ‘Jackets went 80 yards in eight plays, punctuated by senior passer Gavin Croney’s 23-yard scamper up the middle.

“As a team, when they come down in the red zone, we do not want them to put points on the board at all,” senior guard-linebacker Jacob Bollinger said. “We buckled up, hit hard, and stopped them there.”

It was Bollinger that was in on two straight sacks of the Vikings’ Cole Chatfield on the guests’ fourth series. Along with an errant snap, they pushed Mt. Pleasant back behind midfield from the ‘Jackets 25.

Earlier in that second quarter, senior linebacker Zach Clark thwarted another scoring threat by strip-sacking Chatfield on third-and-goal from the six.

“This was a tough team,” Vikings coach Jason Fazekas said of Freeport. “We blew some opportunities. Earlier in the game, we didn’t capitalize. It’s hard to do against a good team like that.

“You’ve got to score on those.”

The pressure of each of Mt. Pleasant’s chances were what Reiser had been missing, out for the first four weeks with a torn left ACL suffered in the preseason.

“It was the best feeling in the world,” Reiser said. “It didn’t even feel real the first play of the game. I was screaming as usual, getting everyone excited ... A little sore here and there, but no pain, really.”

Reiser was scheduled to undergo surgery on his knee two Wednesdays ago. A few days before that, he looked for any reason not to.

“(That) Monday night, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna go outside, run while I can, shoot some hoops, do what I can,’” Reiser said.

He put up some shots, which led to careful layups. Then came spin moves, all without a brace on. He retreated to his car to grab it, then started through some drills.

“I just thought to myself, ‘Why can’t I just give it one more shot and see if I could get out there?’”

The next day, he went to the doctor’s to get another brace fitted. He raised the question of whether or not he could play. The choice was his — and he had only a day to make it.

Should he suit up again and join his team? Or should he punt on the season and go under the knife? It ended up being an easy decision.

“The next morning ... I took a little bit of time off of school and just sat there and thought about it,” Reiser said. “I decided that this team means more than anything to me and I would just lay it all out on the line for them.”

His team was thrilled to have him back.

“Jacksen Reiser is literally the energy of the team,” Bollinger said. “Even at practice, when he wasn’t playing, he still always brought the energy and tonight, he showed that perfectly.”

“Warrior,” Gaillot said. “He’s tough as nails ... He really lifted spirits.”

Junior wideout Cyprian Selinger and Brady Sullivan scored touchdowns in the second quarter. Kicker Isaac Wetzel added a 25-yard field goal before Mt. Pleasant’s Garrett Eicher pinned up his team’s only points of the night with 5:47 to play.

That was the only red zone drive the Vikings made good use of, although the game was well in hand. Going forward, entering conference play, expect for the ‘Jackets to keep the same stingy attitude demonstrated earlier in the clash.

“I think about it once they get that first-and-goal,” said Reiser, who plans on getting surgery after the season comes to a close, if needed, that is. “We’ve got four plays to stop them right here ... I always tell my team, ‘Give me my four plays here, we’ve got four plays here, let’s go.’ I just want to let the offense know that we’re not quitting here.

“Just because they got one big play does not mean we’re giving up.”

Mt. Pleasant 0 0 0 6 — 6

Freeport 7 14 0 3 — 24

First Quarter

F — Gavin Croney 23 run (Isaac Wetzel kick), 2:02

Second Quarter

F — Cyprian Selinger 4 fumble recovery (Wetzel kick), 5:53

F — Brady Sullivan 22 pass from Croney (Wetzel kick), 0:25

Fourth Quarter

F — Wetzel 25 field goal, 9:09

MP — Garrett Eicher 11 run (pass failed), 5:47

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Mount Pleasant, Robbie Labuda 19-118, Garrett Eicher 6-52, Jackson Hutter 4-34, Lane Golkosky 6-31, Cole Chatfield 7-11, Tyler Reese 2-6, TEAM 2-(-11). Freeport, Ben Lane 9-75, Zach Clark 7-45, Gavin Croney 7-43, Sean Selinger 3-2.

Passing: Mount Pleasant, Cole Chatfield 7-15-98-1. Freeport, Gavin Croney 9-16-128-0, Ben Lane 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Mount Pleasant, Tyler Reese 5-51, Jackson Hutter 2-39, Robbie Labuda 2-5, Lane Golkosky 1-3. Freeport, Brady Sullivan 4-83, Brady Stivenson 2-58, Ben Lane 2-13, Dean Furer 1-12.