The Freedom Patriots fired five saved shots on goal in the first five minutes of its East Penn Conference semifinal match against Allentown Central Catholic, but it would only take a few minutes more to light up the scoreboard on their way to a 3-1 victory over the Vikings last Wednesday at Whitehall High School.

“That’s what we’ve been doing lately. We’ve been controlling the game from the start and getting our first goal within the first 10 minutes in the last four or five games in a row. Once we get that, our offense is so dynamic that it just kicks us forward,” said Freedom head coach Matt Reightler. “Corey (James) I expect to finish that nine out of 10 times. We hit the post another time. If any of those had gone in, we could’ve had five or six in that half.”

The Pates’ first goal was a header by Stephen Callaghan off Sebastian Garces’ free kick.

“We had a lot of opportunities before I buried it. It was crowded, and when it hit off the wall, it came right to me, and I knew I could put it in if I placed it the right way,” Callaghan said. “It was a good feeling. I was nervous, not for my team because I knew we were gonna win, but I didn’t want to be the one to make the mistake, and I was glad I could put my team up top right away.”

PJ Tichy’s penalty kick put Freedom ahead, 2-0, and then, in the final 21 seconds of the first half, Tichy’s shot on an assist by Alex Roberts sailed straight up the middle to take the Pates to 3-0 at halftime.

“I just put in a nice ball and PJ was there to finish it like he always is,” Roberts said. “Right after it went there, I knew, and it felt amazing.”

Vikings head coach Taylor Holko implored his team at halftime to kick up the intensity, and in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Owen Wandalowski’s shot slipped off Freedom keeper Tristan Willey’s fingers as he slid to the ground to save it, and the Vikings were on the board.

“We didn’t want to play defensive, but we were more on the defensive end,” said Roberts, regarding the second half of play. “We wanted another goal and we had chances, but that’s all right. I think we outworked them.”

Wandalowski attempted a second goal with 15:20 remaining, but it went wide to the left.

“We wanted to press a little more, but I think we expelled more energy than we wanted to in that first half, so it wasn’t ideal,” Coach Reightler said, “but to be able to hold a second half like that against a quality team like Central, it puts us in a good position moving forward.”