Freedom High School’s usually hard-hitting, stingy defense was nowhere to be found for most of the first half Friday night against Whitehall.
The Zephyrs, with sophomore Trey Dogmanits making his first varsity start at quarterback, gashed the Patriots with a steady diet of running backs Damonte Foreman and Quinn Wentling.
“We weren’t attacking at the line of scrimmage; we were catching them instead of attacking them,” said Freedom junior inside linebacker Kyle Johnson.
“We weren’t playing physical,” added Owen Johnson, the Patriots’ other starting inside linebacker who is Kyle’s twin brother. “We had to turn it up a notch.”
Freedom departed Zephyrs Stadium with a 41-12 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South Division win by scoring 34 unanswered points after Whitehall stormed ahead 12-7 on a 75-yard touchdown dash by Foreman and a bullish 8-yard scoring run by Wentling on fourth down early in the second quarter.
The victory improved Freedom to 5-2 overall, 4-2 in the EPC South and solidified its standing in the District 11 Class 6A playoff chase. Whitehall fell to 3-3 and 2-2.
The Johnson twins also contributed on offense. Owen capped Freedom’s second possession of the game by catching a 33-yard touchdown pass from Brian Taylor for a 7-0 lead with 7:33 left in the first quarter.
“It was a post (pattern) and when we did our reads we knew it would be open,” said Owen, who used his 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame to go up and over a Whitehall defender for the reception at the goal line. “It was like going up for a rebound.”
Kyle Johnson, who is listed at 5-10, 215 pounds, is used as a tight end and H-back. Often, he leads senior running back Deante Crawford through the line.
Few backs in the EPC run angrier than Crawford, who got nastier than usual when the Patriots fell behind. He gained 16 yards on three carriers before ripping off a 25-yard touchdown run off the left side to put the Pates ahead for good, 13-12, less than three minutes after Wentling’s TD.
Freedom capitalized on a short Whitehall punt to midfield on its next possession. Owen Johnson made an over-the-shoulder catch for a 28-yard gain, and Crawford rushed five straight times with the score coming on a 6-yarder up the middle with 2:43 to go until halftime.
“It’s my mentality when I’m running the ball one player shouldn’t be able to tackle me,” said Crawford, who finished with 132 yards on 22 carries and a third touchdown on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter. “I scored the touchdowns because of the work of our offensive line.”
Taylor enjoyed one of his best games of the season. The senior accounted for three touchdowns with his scoring pass to Johnson, a 10-yard run on a draw play early in the second half and a 22-yard pass to Ethan Neidig on a post pattern similar to the one run by Johnson. Taylor was 7-for-10 for 143 yards passing and rushed for 42 yards.
“We have a lot of guys who can make plays for us, and we want to get the ball to a lot of different guys,” Freedom coach Jason Roeder said.
Roeder credited his coaching staff for making the necessary adjustments at halftime to enable the Patriots to dominate the second half and keep Foreman and Wentling in check.
“Our coaches diagnosed what we needed to do,” Roeder said. “We played at the (faster) pace we wanted to play at. But credit Whitehall. They came out and took it to us.”
Wentling had been Whitehall’s starting quarterback but currently is unable to throw a pass so he contributed as a running back. Senior linebacker Michael Hernandez was out with an injury as was junior running back Nigel Linton.
“I was really proud of the kids tonight,” Whitehall coach Matt Senneca said. “We had sophomores playing whose only experience had been in JV games. “Quinn playing at running back is nothing new, and it was nice to have him in the backfield with Trey to help settle him down.”
Foreman, a 6-1, 190-pound senior, rushed for 119 of his 140 yards in the first half when he also registered nine tackles from his middle linebacker position.
“He’s been doing that all season,” said Senneca of Foreman’s outstanding defensive play. “If he’s not all-conference I don’t know who is because I haven’t seen a better linebacker than him. I haven’t seen an offense that’s been able to block him. When he needs a break we take him out on offense because we need him out there on defense.”
Freedom plays host to Pleasant Valley in an EPC divisional crossover game next Friday night, and Whitehall is at Central Catholic next Saturday night.
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Corky Blake can be reached at sports@lehighvalleylive.com.
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