Freedom football wanted to start faster, so it scored 30 straight points vs. Easton - lehighvalleylive.com

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It can be hard to find the negatives during a six-game winning streak.

Freedom High School’s football team identified one problem pretty easily, though. The Patriots trailed at halftime during their Week 9 and 10 victories over Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty, respectively.

That wasn’t an issue on Friday night.

Third-seeded Freedom opened a 30-0 first-half lead and defeated sixth-seeded Easton 44-14 in the District 11 Class 6A quarterfinals at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

The Patriots (9-2), who have now won seven in a row, advance to play unbeaten Northampton (11-0), a 21-7 winner over Pleasant Valley, in the D-11 semifinals next week.

Freedom forced Easton to go three-and-out on its first two offensive possessions, the second of which ended in a 13-yard punt that gave the Patriots the ball at the visitors’ 22-yard line.

Deante Crawford carried the rock five straight times and reached the end zone with a 1-yard scoring run to give Freedom a 7-0 lead with 5:40 left in the first quarter.

“It was great. The last couple weeks, we came out slow then we picked it up in the second half,” senior two-way lineman Juan Feliciano said. “We knew we had to keep our foot on the gas for four quarters until the game was over.”

The Patriots’ next offensive series only lasted two plays as senior quarterback Brian Taylor rumbled his way to a 15-yard gain, and then found junior Owen Johnson wide open on a deep post for a 52-yard touchdown.

“The main point was to come out firing, because the past two games, we didn’t really do that,” Johnson said. “Our main emphasis was to get better and perform in the first and second halves.”

The hosts quickly found themselves in the red zone again when senior Lorenzo Feliciano intercepted an Easton pass and returned it 38 yards to the Red Rovers 4. The Patriots were forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal by junior Zeyad Ragab, which pushed their advantage to 17-0 in the opening minute of the second quarter.

Patriots pour it on

The Rovers went three-and-out on the ensuing possession and their defense quickly returned to the field. Freedom then needed just five plays to go 64 yards as Taylor hit junior Ethan Neidig for a 21-yard TD.

Easton (5-4) failed to move the chains on its next drive, too, and turned the ball over on downs after throwing an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from its 35.

“Our defense, we just played fast and physical,” said Johnson, who plays linebacker as well as wideout.

Crawford took advantage of the field position and darted across the goal line for a 15-yard score that put Freedom up 30-0 with 4:58 remaining in the first half.

“I felt really good coming into this game,” Patriots coach Jason Roeder said. “I felt really good about the week of practice. I felt good about the way we grounded ourselves after a couple emotional weeks. I expected us to play well tonight.”

Run-heavy, but not run-only

Freedom rushed for 262 yards behind another terrific effort from its offensive line.

“Braelin (Moore) and I on the left side, we have great chemistry,” Juan Feliciano said. “On the right side, we’ve built chemistry since the summer. We knew we just had to come out and dominate the line of scrimmage.”

Crawford rushed for 193 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. The senior, however, left the game with an injury after his final run of the evening – a 44-yard sprint. Roeder indicated that the ailment didn’t appear too serious.

“He’s a tough kid. If anyone is going to rebound and respond, it’s going to be him,” the coach said.

Taylor only completed four passes for Freedom, but still threw for 97 yards and two scores, and provided enough of a threat to complement the ground attack.

“By the stat line, obviously, we’ve been running the football and having success there. But we feel like we can air it out when we need to,” Roeder said. “We want to be balanced. The whole concept is to take what the defense gives us and execute whether we’re running or passing.”

“We have a really nice back in the backfield,” Johnson added. “We also have threats on the outside. So, it really helps the running game if we pass the ball effectively.”

Easton eliminated

Easton got on the scoreboard when senior quarterback Cole Transue tossed a 36-yard TD to junior JV Johnson with 1:15 remaining before halftime. Transue also connected with junior JuJu Fears for a 23-yard score early in the fourth quarter.

“We couldn’t get our offense going. I think we had our guys in position to make plays and we didn’t make plays,” Rovers coach Jeff Braido said. “We said at halftime that we didn’t tackle very well in the first half – we didn’t tackle very well in the second half, either. That’s just fundamental football that at this point in the season shouldn’t be an issue. Obviously, there are still some things we need to work on.”

Easton will now turn its sights to a Thanksgiving Day matchup with rival Phillipsburg. The Rovers have won five straight vs. the Stateliners.

“No one plans to lose by 30 points. Obviously, it’s not the outcome that we wanted or anything that we expected,” Braido said. “We need to do a better job as a coaching staff to get the boys ready to play on Thanksgiving.”

Into the semis

Next, the Patriots will put their winning streak and season on the line at Northampton, which won the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference North Division and is 11-0 for the first time in program history.

“It’s exciting. Obviously, you’d love to play at home, but that’s not the case. We’re going to take this show on the road and go play an undefeated team at their place,” Roeder said. “I think it’s going to be a great environment, great storyline.

“I’m just excited that I get to see my guys on Monday. That was the goal coming in here.”

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Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com.

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