Good day, @stephenw10
Thought I would put the period on this post.
I used the "pfSense-CE-memstick-2.7.2-RELEASE-amd64.img.gz".
I was able to connect via the serial cable during POST, catch the BIOS and enable USB booting. From there, everything has gone very smoothly. I'm very happy with the hardware and software. I have several Noctua fans, 16 GB of DDR4 ECC RAM and a i7-7700T CPU heading my way after reading this epic forum ballad.
This seems like a really great forum and I am grateful that such a altruistic resource is available, and well moderated, for professionals and home-labbers alike. Thank you all!