It’s the same message that Shawn Daignault has been preaching to his Liberty team all season, but the Hurricanes just haven’t been able to harness that into four quarters of consistent football.

Keeping focus and limiting mental mistakes have been hiccups for the Hurricanes all season and they became issues last week during a 26-7 defeat to Easton at BASD Stadium.

A 7-6 Liberty lead with 37 seconds before halftime immediately changed course when JuJu Fears picked off Tommy Mason at the 50-yard line and returned it to the Hurricanes one-yard line.

Aiden Hutchinson then plowed his way into the end zone for the go-ahead score that Easton would never relinquish, taking a 13-7 lead into half.

It was a deflating sequence for Liberty (2-6) that they never recovered from.

“That was a rough one,” said Liberty head coach Shawn Daignault. “They were jumping our short routes and the kid made a heck of a play.

Fears would score both of Easton’s touchdowns in the second half, running one in from seven-yards out in the third quarter and then hauling in a 14-yard score from quarterback Joe Martinez, as they were able to shut out the Hurricanes in the final 24 minutes.

Hutchinson paced Easton’s ground game with 148 yards and two touchdowns, as the Rovers improved to 3-5 on the year.

“The message hasn’t really changed over the past couple weeks, where we’ve got to focus and do our jobs better,” Daignault said. “We’ve got a lot of next man up things happening now where guys are stepping up and performing when we had no idea they’d be in games. We still got to play a whole lot better. Need to be more physical, tackle better and play more fundamental football.”

Liberty’s lone score was a 23-yard TD throw from Mason to Karim Brice in the second quarter to give them the lead, but the Hurricanes struggled to match Easton’s size and physicality up front in the second half.

With the EPC South gauntlet continuing this weekend against a hot Parkland (5-3) team, Daignault understands it doesn’t get any easier.

“Every team we play is a good football team,” he said. “Our schedule doesn’t let up so we just need to prepare each week and just clean up the mental mistakes and that’s on us as coaches to do better. Obviously you put a lot of work into this and you want to see it pay off for the kids, especially the seniors who only have a couple weeks left.”

Bethlehem Catholic (4-4) hopes to regroup after falling to the Trojans 38-14 last week amid a tumultuous week where former head coach Kyle Haas resigned last Thursday, forcing interim coach Chuck Sonon to keep morale afloat.

Sonon is as experienced as anyone in the Lehigh Valley, having a 40-year career and three different head coaching gigs (two of which were at Becahi) during the years, but last week’s situation was certainly unique for the veteran coach.

With Freedom (6-2) on tap this Friday night at BASD Stadium, it’s an opportunity to prepare and win the city championship, since the Hawks knocked off Liberty earlier this season.

Freedom blanked Pleasant Valley 49-0 last week, as the Pates have won five straight games heading into this weekend’s rivalry clash.