It’s quite clear how much city games mean to Freedom head coach Jason Roeder.

After beating Bethlehem Catholic 24-13 last Friday night, Roeder had some extra juice in his postgame talk to his players.

It was evident that city games have a different meaning than your run of the mill EPC South contests.

“For a long time these games mean a whole lot,” said Roeder. “For people that grew up in Bethlehem and played in the city, they know how competitive a city this is. To be able to win for our school and community for bragging rights in the city is enormous and makes the Liberty game that much bigger.”

The Pates will have a chance on building on that feeling this Saturday afternoon when they take on Liberty at BASD Stadium.

Freedom (7-2) are winners of six straight games heading into their 1 p.m. tilt with a struggling Liberty (2-7) squad, but records don’t mean much in this series, where the two biggest rivals in the area square off with city bragging rights on the line.

“We’re in championship mode,” said Roeder. “When you get into the last two weeks of the season and it’s Beca and Liberty then the playoffs, it’s ramped up for us. That’s the way it’s been here for a long time and that’s the way we expect it to be.”

The Pates knocked off the Hurricanes last year 28-13, but trailed 13-7 at halftime and scored 21 consecutive points in the second half to run away with the win.

A victory this weekend would clinch the city title for the black and gold, but also keep them in the running to host a district playoff game next weekend, as they entered the week ranked fourth in the District 11 6A power rankings.

For Liberty, it’s come down to playing for pride in this year’s contest. The Hurricanes have dropped three straight, including last week’s 56-19 defeat to Parkland.

Head coach Shawn Daignault understands things haven’t gone how they’ve hoped this season, but their whole season comes down to Saturday afternoon.

“Obviously, this is one of those games where the rest of the season doesn’t really matter,” Daignault said. “It is almost a season unto itself.

“There is a lot of history in this game. People grew up coming to this game. I think the familiarity these kids all have with each other is the biggest factor. Most of them have known each other their entire lives and they talk about the game all year.”

Bethlehem Catholic (4-5) has their own rivalry tilt on Friday night at home when they host Central Catholic (5-4) in the Holy War series.

Both teams are atop the District 11 4A power rankings, but the Vikings are the only team in the class that have clinched a playoff berth.

Becahi interim coach Chuck Sonon felt his group battled more against Freedom than their showing against Parkland the week prior, following the sudden resignation of head coach Kyle Haas.

He knows they’ll need that moving forward, starting this weekend, as the race for District 11 4A crown appears wide open.

“Not a lot of people like change and it doesn’t matter how old you are,” Sonon said of the changes the team has endured recently. “We just need more consistency. We’re a pretty good football team when we don’t make mistakes. Blocking or tackling hasn’t changed in this game and if we can do that more consistently, we’ll be all right.”