Freedom hasn’t been used to having their football season end on the opening week of the District 11 playoffs, but Emmaus bucked that trend last Friday night in a 19-14 victory at BASD Stadium.

After beating the Hornets 25-19 on October 20 and knocking off Emmaus six times over the last seven years in the postseason, the Hornets finally got some revenge over the Patriots.

Josiah Williams gave Emmaus the go-ahead lead with a 16-yard TD throw to Jerek Cooper with 8:43 left in the fourth quarter and the Hornets closed out any chance of Freedom staging another heartbreaking comeback when Jah’kai Daves reeled in a one-handed interception of Chase Walker down the sideline with 2:09 to play to wrap things up.

“I think this came down to a lot of things,” said Freedom head coach Jason Roeder. “The way they were able to run the ball down the stretch and that hurt us. I think our inability to run played a big factor too.”

Cooper and Williams alternated at quarterback throughout the night for Emmaus with Cooper getting the start and throwing for 125 yards and while Williams only threw for 23 yards and the decisive score, his running ability changed the game in the second half, especially the fourth quarter where Emmaus repeatedly used Williams’ big body to hammer Freedom’s rush defense.

Williams finished with 59 yards on the ground, including a 10-yard run in the third quarter to give Emmaus a 13-7 lead.

Freedom answered with Aaron Beete punching it in from three-yards out with 42 seconds left in the quarter to give them a 14-13 lead heading into the final frame.

Unfortunately, Freedom’s offense never really threatened in the final 12 minutes, while Emmaus proved to muscle their way up front.

“I’m not sure if we were doing the right things up front or if we were just getting pushed,” said Roeder. “You know it’s always a barn burner with them and you have to give credit to Emmaus and their staff.”

The loss finishes Freedom’s season at 6-5 and snapped a five-game win streak. After reaching the district finals the last three years in a row, having the season end this early for the Pates was a bitter pill to swallow.

“This group of guys were resilient,” said Roeder. “To go from 1-4 and stay together and not point fingers is something I’m proud of this group. Winning a city title is always great, but this feeling right now isn’t fun and this isn’t what we expected and we’ll work to not be here again.”