After reading the Sept. 7 article by staff writer Kalle Oakes on the Spruce Mountain-Freeport football game, I felt the need to provide more information about the “bizarre finish.”

It is disappointing that the Sun Journal would print a story that smears the Freeport football program without contacting the Freeport coach to get a balanced position.

Freeport has a struggling football program that had 21 players available, compared to about 40 Spruce Mountain players. Freeport’s shortage of players requires sophomores and freshmen to play both varsity and junior varsity.

While I am thankful that the injured Spruce Mountain player will recover, the two players involved were both sophomores, and it wasn’t the story led readers to believe.

The report was that “a Freeport player pushed a Spruce Mountain player, who retaliated.” What I saw was a Freeport player on his back at the bottom of a pile of Spruce Mountain players, getting punched in the throat while another Spruce Mountain player ripped off his helmet. Did he retaliate at that point? Likely, and a scuffle ensued.

After that, did the Spruce Mountain coach see Freeport starters on the field? Yes, but these same JV players had been playing since halftime, and that was nothing new. It was Spruce Mountain that threw in their starting lineup of seniors.

That is the story that the Sun Journal failed to mention.

Timothy Doughty, Freeport

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