Freeport boys find footing early in season as they prepare for difficult section schedule

By: Greg Macafee
Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 4:55 PM

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At this point in the season, teams around the WPIAL are still developing their “brand,” or the style of soccer that allows them to play at their highest level when the games matter most.

That often involves moving players around, trying new things, focusing on fundamentals and getting comfortable with tactics and the general flow of each match. Through their first four games, the Freeport boys have struck a successful balance.

After an 8-8-2 season in 2024 in which they narrowly missed the Class 2A playoffs in Brad Walker’s second year at the helm, the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 3-1 start heading into Thursday’s matchup against North Catholic.

During that four-game stretch, Freeport outscored its opponents — Jeannette, Shady Side Academy, Leechburg and Armstrong — by a combined tally of 20-5 and recorded shutouts against Jeannette and Leechburg. The Yellowjackets suffered a 4-0 loss to Shady Side.

“It’s a very similar start to last year. We just have to keep riding the wave,” Walker said. “We got off to a hot start last year but fell off midseason with injuries. Once we hit section play and had our gauntlet of tougher teams, we failed to stay healthy. So our goal is to keep progressing and riding this wave longer.”

Freeport went 4-1-2 during its first seven games a year ago before losing four straight in the middle of the season and finishing up by winning four of its final seven games. Though staying healthy is important this time around, Walker said they are still working out the kinks that come with early-season play.

“We’ve been playing our brand,” Walker said. “Even through our scrimmages, when we played some higher section teams — we scrimmaged two 3A teams (Knoch and Kiski Area) — and us being 2A, it prepared us for early-on tests. We’re still finding our identity in what works best in certain parts of the field for us. But we’re a relatively young team and fighting in our section against a lot of upperclassmen-heavy teams this season, we really have to stay dominant in our brand to compete.”

When it comes to Freeport’s “brand,” Walker wants to see his team get its key players involved in “dynamic capacities in certain aspects of the field.” He said it is a possession-heavy team that needs the ball at its feet. So far this season, that has worked out as Freeport returned nine starters.

They did have two important holes to fill as leading goal scorer Angelo Porco, who’s playing at LaRoche, graduated, and goalkeeper Judah Thompson decided to play in the MLS Next league with Beadling.

So far, key contributors such as senior midfielder Ryan Sutara and junior center back Xavier DeWitt have stepped up. Sutara scored a hat trick Tuesday in Freeport’s 4-1 win over Armstrong and has six goals this season, and DeWitt has solidified the team’s back line.

Nine players have scored.

“We have a very balanced attack, and that’s part of our brand,” Walker said. “… We’re looking to get everybody on the ball as much as possible.”

As the Yellowjackets continue to find their style, they’ll prepare for a tough Section 1-2A schedule that includes Shady Side, North Catholic, Deer Lakes, Burrell, Highlands, Leechburg and Valley.

Deer Lakes, North Catholic, Shady Side and Burrell recorded double-digit wins last season. Deer Lakes and Burrell faced off in the WPIAL Class 2A third-place match, and North Catholic and Shady Side lost in the quarterfinals.

To be in those games, Walker said his team must stick to its style of play, which he’s seen glimpses of at times. If the Yellowjackets can do that, Walker says they will be able to compete at a high level.

“We have to play our brand. We can’t get caught up in what other teams are doing,” Walker said. “There have been game moments where we have strayed away and fell into a different style of soccer. High school soccer can be very direct, very physical and very intense. We have to stay true to our identity, and if we do that, the final 20 minutes against Armstrong was that and we found a lot of success.”

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Freeport