If there’s one word to describe Freedom’s last month of football, brutal might be the proper term. The Patriots endured their fourth straight loss last Friday night, suffering a 29-28 overtime defeat at Whitehall in what has been a month of gut wrenching defeats for the Pates.

Last week’s defeat was another tale of lost opportunity when the Pates couldn’t capitalize on a 14-0 lead, saw Whitehall score as time expired in regulation and then ultimately fall in overtime after another failed two-point conversion in as many weeks kept them writing a different script.

“I told our guys I don’t I’ve had a group ever go through a stretch like this,” said head coach Jason Roeder. “I feel for them and I’m hurting with them. I just hope we can get it fixed.”

Noah Pierre got the offense going on the first play of the night for the Pates, taking a handoff 70-yards to the edge for the opening score. Jiovanni Richardson then busted a 30-yard rushing score in the first quarter as Freedom looked like they might boat race the Zephyrs with their two touchdown advantage.

However, Whitehall answered with a pair of second quarter scores and a converted two-point conversion to take a 15-14 lead into halftime.

Freedom would take a 22-15 lead in the third when Chase Walker found Justin Peluso on a 29-yard TD strike, followed by a Richardson run on the two-point conversion with 2:52 left in the period.

The score stayed that way all the way until the end of regulation when Whitehall quarterback Trey Dogmanits scrambled to his left on 4th-and-goal from the nine to find his brother Talon for a touchdown as time expired. Talon seemingly got a toe down on the sideline catch to force overtime following an extra point by Andrew Deutsch.

The chaos ensued in overtime when Whitehall’s Dalton Wickel suffered a dislocated elbow making a tackle on the first play of extra time. The game was delayed for roughly 15 minutes as Wickel was loaded on a gurney and taken to into an ambulance.

It didn’t phase Freedom, as Richardson scored from five yards to put them ahead 28-22. Whitehall was called for offsides on the ensuing extra point and Roeder elected to go for two, but the Pates were stuffed on a run, opening up the door for Whitehall to pull out the win.

“It’s terrible to lose like that,” said Roeder. “You play for the win and you get that chance to play for a yard and a half. To win games you gotta get that.”

Whitehall didn’t waste time, as Carter Troxell plowed in from a yard out to tie the game and Deutsch eventually booted the game winning extra point for a walk-off Zephyr win.

“We’re playing hard, but we’re making too many mistakes,” Roeder said. “That’s obviously on me and we’ll get back to work.”