You can make the case that Freedom is playing the best football of anyone in District 11 right now, but the Pates just wanted to enjoy their city championship last Saturday afternoon.

Freedom took care of business in this year’s rivalry showdown with Liberty, scoring on their first three possessions en route to handling the Hurricanes 38-7 to take home another city championship and win their seventh straight game of the season.

Jalen Fletcher scored the first three TD’s of the game for the Pates, as they built a 31-0 lead at halftime and put the game into the mercy rule effect in the third quarter, when Vincent Slepetz hauled in a 17-yard TD pass from Ethan Neidig.

It was the fourth straight win for Freedom (8-2) in the series, while Liberty finished their season at 2-8 overall.

“Everyone knows that this game and the build up to this game is emotional for everyone involved,” said head coach Jason Roeder. “This senior class has never lost to Bethlehem Catholic or Liberty and that’s a first in the history of our school. It’s a special feeling to win these city games for sure.”

The focus now shifts to Friday’s home playoff game against Hazleton (8-2) in a four-five matchup of the District 11 6A subregional tournament.

The Cougars are coming off their first shutout of the season after blanking Berwick 20-0 last week, but may have suffered a blow when quarterback Tyler Wolfe left the game early with a knee injury. Wolfe has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season and 24 touchdowns, with 6-foot-4 wide receiver Connor Shamany being his favorite target. Shamany has caught 38 balls for 721 yards and six touchdowns this season and will be a problem for the Pates on the perimeter.

“They have a very good quarterback, a 200-pound running back (Matt Buchman) and that wide receiver is going to play in college, so they present some challenges,” Roeder said. “They won eight games for a reason and they’re an unknown opponent, so it’s exciting to play a game like this.”

Freedom hasn’t played Hazleton since the 2008 district semifinals, but the prep work is no different this week.

With the goal of defending their district championship from a year ago still alive, the journey continues Friday at BASD Stadium.

“We got to watch film and take care of the little things each week,” said Roeder. “We’re still chasing that perfect game, so there’s always room to improve and the kids understand that. We just need to focus on our jobs at practice this week and come out ready to play on Friday.”

Bethlehem Catholic locked up the top seed in the District 11 4A tournament, outlasting Central Catholic 14-13 in overtime last week. The win snapped a two-game slide for the Hawks (5-5), who now host Blue Mountain at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon in their playoff opener.

Interim coach Chuck Sonon was relieved his team was able to grit out a victory over their rivals in the Holy War series, but also felt a victory coming after what the program has had to endure over the past month.

“It’s always nice to get wins,” Sonon said. “It puts everybody in a positive mindset. We’ve been competitive the last few weeks, but we were able to make one more play in this one [against Central]. This should lift everyone and give us more confidence going into the playoffs.”

Blue Mountain (6-4) comes in with a mixed bag of results against Lehigh Valley teams this season, posting notable wins against Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Wilson and Bangor.

Playing a team without much familiarity isn’t a concern for Sonon either, as they prep to take down the Eagles on Saturday.

“They have a terrific defensive lineman in Ian Donohue and they are aggressive on defense,” said Sonon. “They have some decent team speed, but they’re a scrappy group. The biggest thing you can’t see on film is how big they really are, but we’ll see on Saturday. They have two running backs they like to use, but they’re a spread team. Hopefully, we can just execute.”