After two quarters where victory seemed unquestionable, Freedom High School’s football team left the field on Saturday night with a win, but some uncertainly.
Specifically: What just happened?
The second-ranked Patriots held off No. 10 Allentown Central Catholic for a 34-31 victory in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference play at J. Birney Crum Stadium, as potentially game-tying field goal crashed off the right upright with 16.7 seconds remaining.
Freedom (8-1 overall, 6-1 division) had a 34-17 lead at halftime and had accumulated 408 yards of total offense. The Patriots totaled 48 yards, one first down and zero points after the break.
“We've got to look at the film and see if they were assignment mistakes, if they were hustle mistakes, if they were physical mistakes,” Freedom coach Jason Roeder said. “I'm not quite sure yet. We don't have a whole lot of turnaround time, but we're going to look at the film real quick.”
“Honestly, we didn't make any adjustments,” Central Catholic coach Tim McGorry said. “It was more that we weren't running to the ball, we weren't tackling well in the first half and that's why we've played well all year on defense. In the second half, you kind of saw that we were getting five, six, seven guys to the football. That's what we've got to do all the time. When we can do that, we're pretty good on defense.”
The Vikings outscored Freedom 14-0 after the break. They forced Freedom to punt on the opening series of the second half. The Patriots first team hadn’t punted in the opening two quarter or throughout last week’s 63-28 victory over Emmaus.
Junior tailback Jayden Williams had a 9-yard touchdown run for the Vikings on the ensuing possession, cutting the Freedom advantage to 34-24 with 7:45 to go in the fourth quarter.
On its first possession of the fourth quarter, Central Catholic attempted a fake punt on fourth-and-8 from its 39. The Patriots had the trick play covered and took over on downs.
Freedom senior quarterback Jared Jenkins threw an interception to Central Catholic senior Jaylen Green on the next play, however, and the hosts had new life.
“We told our guys at halftime: 'You've got to turn the scoreboard off and compete every play. If you can do that, good things are going to happen.' And they did,” McGorry said.
Five plays later, Williams marched into the end zone for a 5-yard TD, cutting the deficit to 34-31, after the PAT, with 6:22 remaining in the game.
“They were balanced,” Roeder said of the Vikings offense. “It's the same thing. I've got to see if we were gap-sound or if they just had a little more pep in their step in the second half. I don't know.”
The deciding drive
A three-and-out by Freedom gave Central Catholic the ball back on its own 18-yard line with 4:41 on the clock.
The Vikings quickly faced a fourth-and-6, which they converted with a 37-yard pass from junior quarterback Matt Rauscher to senior George Hlavac. Freedom fans were in disbelief that Hlavac was awarded the completion for his great diving grab that appeared to land on the sideline.
Central Catholic eventually reached the Patriots’ 10 with 29.5 seconds remaining. A pair of incompletions, with a false start sandwiched in between, led to fourth-and-12. Vikings junior kicker Chris Matejcek, who made a 30-yard field goal in the first half, sent a 33-yarder off the right upright and out with 16 seconds remaining.
“Certainly, that's a play that stands out because of the time it was at,” McGorry said. “But, that's no different than seven or eight critical mistakes that we made throughout the game. Chris does a great job for us. We're going to need Chris down the road here. He'll be harder on himself than anybody can be on him. We'll pick him up ... That's not on Chris.”
Freedom took a knee and escaped.
“I didn't do a good enough job getting our guys ready at halftime, obviously,” Roeder said. “We talked about how I didn't want to see a content football team in the second half. That's, I think, exactly what we saw.”
A totally different opening
Freedom’s first half was a lot more pleasant for Patriots fans.
The visitors scored touchdowns on their first five offensive drives, which included a 69-yard change through the middle of the Vikings defense by senior tailback Jalen Stewart on the Patriots’ second play from scrimmage.
The next two TD were connections between Jenkins and senior wideout Vince Reph, who caught a 10-yard scoring reception near the sideline and then broke a tackle and raced for a 72-yard touchdown, making it 20-7.
Junior running back Matty Russin extended the lead to 27-7 with a nifty 28-yard touchdown, in which he made a sudden cut upfield and shook off tacklers.
After, Rauscher hit senior wideout Jeremy Rivera for an 8-yard scoring slant, Freedom needed just three plays and 30 seconds to go 67 yards. Stewart found the end zone on a 32-yard screen and the Patriots went ahead 34-14 with 1:30 remaining in the second quarter.
Jenkins was 17 of 22 for 272 yards, three TDs and an interception for Freedom. Stewart ran 13 times for 117 yards and a score. Reph made six catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Rauscher finished 16 of 24 with 205 yards, a TD and an INT. He also took 12 carries for 115 yards, according to Central Catholic’s official stats, and a score. Williams ran 27 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Rivals ahead
The Vikings (5-4, 3-4) will try to build off their comeback attempt when they meet Bethlehem Catholic in the regular-season finale.
“We're continuing to take steps forward every week, which is huge,” McGorry said.
Freedom will try to bury its second-half performance before taking on rival Liberty. The Hurricanes only have one win in the South Division, but upset the Patriots in Week 10 last season.
“I think everyone knows the history of the game next week,” Roeder said. “It’s just a matter of getting ourselves right real quick, because we’re going to play another physical football game next weekend.”
Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KyleCraigSports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.