Liberty was expected to be one of the best teams in District 11 coming into the season and the Hurricanes have lived up to that billing.

The Hurricanes are 3-0 on the season with wins over Scranton Prep, Whitehall and Bethlehem Catholic and head coach Nigel Long is happy to see how the squad has started this month.

“We are thrilled with the fast start to the season, however, we know there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Long. “We have a ton of room for growth and we are looking forward to keep improving as the season progresses.

“Through the first three games, we’ve seen a competitiveness, resilience, and a collective joy from our team which has been fun to watch. The season is young, so we are hoping to keep improving throughout the season.”

Liberty has three games on the schedule this week with Pleasant Valley, Dieruff and Dallas before they head into a tough stretch next week against Emmaus, Pocono Mountain West and Reading.

With the team featuring Blake Hargrove and Jake Pukszyn spearheading guard play, many people wondered how losing interior force Dywane Chess to transfer would affect the Hurricanes. So far, Long and company have proved they can handle it, winning their first three games of the year by an average 16 point margin.

“We are seeing contributions from everyone,” Long said. “Whether it is rebounding, assisting, scoring, or steals it has been a collective effort thus far. We knew that it would take a team effort. Dywane is a very good player with an extremely bright future. We really leaned on him last year. However, this year so far our team has really stepped up on both sides of the floor. We have 41 total team assists in three games offensively along with the way we’ve been able to rebound the ball defensively is a recipe for success.”

Freedom (2-3) have lost their last two games dropping a 66-59 contest to Dallas and a 53-46 loss to Parkland in back-to-back games last week, but head coach Joe Stellato is thrilled with the effort so far.

“We are playing great,” said Stellato. “We are using 8 - 10 guys a night and we have had a lot of different players step up and play well. I am excited about the way we are playing. We need to improve in executing at the end of the game. This will come with more experience, but we can’t wait forever.”

The Pates have a tough slate this week with Pocono Mountain East and Easton.

Bethlehem Catholic (1-3) has struggled out of the gate, scoring only 23 points in a loss to Liberty and 33 points in a defeat to Central Catholic last week.

With the team being devastated by injuries coming into the year, head coach Scott McClary knew there was going to be growing pains.

“We are certainly going through growing pains right now,” said McClary. “No, I am not surprised by anything at all thus far. We knew our early schedule was really challenging and we knew we were going into it with only one player that had varsity experience.

“Our offense, which takes much longer to grow, is still a work in progress. I love what I am seeing in practice from this group and I think it will translate into a better result on game night soon.”

Becahi takes on Pocono Mountain West and Nazareth this week.