Joe Stellato has been looking forward to playing a competitive basketball game for months now, but the Patriots will have to wait a little bit longer as they have been in quarantine since last Tuesday due to a positive coronavirus case on the basketball team.

Freedom was slated to play Easton last Thursday in their opener, but the positive case has put them at a standstill, canceling Saturday’s game with the Rovers as well.

“We haven’t been able to do anything since Tuesday (January 19),” Stellato said. “That’s the protocol and we won’t get back together on the court until Wednesday for a practice and then hopefully we can play on Thursday night.”

If everything works out for the Pates, they’ll play Nazareth Thursday night at home. The Pates are the only boys’ team in District 11 to not have played a game yet.

The school has seen a recent uptick in cases, with nearly cases last week, prompting the school to go to virtual learning last Friday. With many students schedule to take the Keystone exams on Monday and Tuesday of this week, it gave the school added time with the weekend for the pre-emptive approach.

As of now, the Easton contests are likely to be rescheduled to the open week before the East Penn Conference tournament, but any other setbacks due to corona will likely result in lost games.

“It’s just frustrating because we haven’t practiced in a week and with such an inexperienced team, a lot of these guys don’t even know the plays yet,” said Stellato. “It’s a tough situation, but at the end of the day, all we want to do is get out there and play.”