It’s early September, the local high school golf season is beginning its final regular-season stretch.

In Bethlehem, Freedom and Liberty’s teams are following their usual path, and the two teams will have a key showdown Sept. 14.

Freedom began the week with a 9-3 record and had three matches remaining. The Patriots will be circling dates with Emmaus and Liberty as ones that could have a significant impact to their finish.

Their defeats this season were to Northampton, Nazareth, and Parkland, the latter being a one-stroke loss.

“We have played pretty consistently,” said Freedom head coach Mike Evans. “The Parkland defeat was a hard one to swallow.”

Junior Nick Hoffman is leading the team with an 80 average followed by junior Louis Pagano, who has an 82.

“The team has been consistently putting up scores from 405-420, and we hope to compete for a top spot in the EPC (East Penn Conference) tourney in two weeks,” added Evans.

At Liberty, the landscape has changed with the departure of Matt and Mike Vital along with Jimmy Barker, who were all mainstays on a Hurricane team that won four consecutive district titles.

The Hurricanes have been paced by senior Jace Barker, who has been consistently shooting in the mid 70s and low 80s. Fellow seniors Matt Ronca and Paul Erfle also have been leading the pack. Sophomore Trent Stahley also has been in the mix.

Liberty has defeated Bethlehem Catholic, East Stroudsburg South, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Pocono Mountain West, Easton, Whitehall, and East Stroudsburg North, while LHS has dropped matches to Nazareth, Emmaus, and Northampton.

Head coach Steve Bradley noted that his squad lost in a tiebreaker to Emmaus, lost to Nazareth by six strokes, and had two players shoot 10 strokes off their norm in the Northampton loss.

“We’re all right,” stated Bradley. “I don’t think we are playing to our potential yet. We just blew up against Northampton. We do have the ability to be right there with anybody.”

Bradley expects his team to make the league tournament, but he doesn’t see them in district play. The Hurricanes have Allentown Central Catholic, Pocono Mountain East, and Freedom left on their docket.

“We’ll see how we do,” added Bradley. “The Freedom match will be a big one. We just need to play a little bit better.”