Freedom may have endured the storm of their early season woes and are starting to see through the clouds. After dropping four straight games, the Pates have now won in back-to-back weeks, with last week’s 12-0 shutout over city rival Bethlehem Catholic being the signature win of the season.

It’s the second straight shutout Freedom has registered on the year and it couldn’t have come at a better time against the Golden Hawks in the city championship series.

“No doubt it was a tough stretch with the losses and we’re not used to that,” said Roeder of the early season slide. “We want to use the positive vibes from the last two weeks to keep the momentum going.”

The win was the eighth straight for the Pates in the series between both schools and gives them a chance to win the city title if they can beat Liberty in the regular season finale.

But last Saturday night, it was all about the defense, who surrendered 198 yards to the Hawks and stifled three Becahi drives inside their 25 yard line.

Freedom (3-4) will need that defensive effort every week until the offense can find its form again, after only scoring a touchdown in a win over East Stroudsburg South two weeks and then getting a pair of second quarter touchdowns last week. Noah Pierre ran in from a yard out with 8:44 on the clock to give Freedom a 6-0 lead and then Chase Walker found Shacre Colwell on a 15-yard touchdown pass just before halftime to give them the 12 points (both PAT’s failed) needed to sustain the win.

Freedom only mustered 194 yards of total offense, but Roeder feels like the offense is getting close to where they need to be.

“We’re close on offense,” he said. “This past week it was just a matter of sustaining blocks a little more and being precise. Its just a matter of keep working to get better. The game against South wasn’t our best game and Becahi wasn’t either, but the result was there.”

Becahi (5-2) has now dropped two straight games after an undefeated start and have been shutout in both of those losses, not scoring a touchdown in their last nine quarters.

Everyone knew the second half of Becahi’s schedule was going to be tough, but starting it out with shutout defeats to Emmaus and Freedom is not how head coach Tyler Ward envisioned things. The Hawks travel to Parkland (7-0) this week in their most daunting task of the season, while Freedom hosts Easton (3-4) on Friday night in a pivotal battle for the District 11 postseason race.

Freedom jumped to fifth in the District 11 6A power rankings this week thanks to their win over the Golden Hawks and can bolster their position with a win over the Rovers, who are fighting for their playoff lives.

“We’re worried about ourselves and we’re a work in progress,” said Roeder. “I know we got to win to get in [districts]. It’s a nice feeling to control your own destiny and how that all works out with the seeding at the end will be seen. We just got to put everything together.”