The East Penn Conference football schedule will have a different look this season thanks to league realignment and that has opened up the door for teams to get creative with their nonleague schedule.

Freedom has been the most ambitious in that approach, as the Pates will open next season against Torrey Pines of San Diego, CA, on August 23.

The game is slated for 6 p.m. at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep High School, adding another element of excitement for the program during their offseason.

Freedom head coach Jason Roeder knows having a game like this to start the season adds more juice to the team process during a long leading up to the game.

“It’s exciting news,” said Roeder. “The offseason is very long and the routine can become monotonous at times. This news definitely gave us a jolt and is a good reminder of why we put in all this work.”

Freedom went 6-5 last season, but the Pates have become one of the most consistent winning programs in the EPC, as the conference scrapped it’s two division setup for a three division alignment of six teams.

With league games officially starting in week four, the Pates will still have nonleague games against Parkland and Central Catholic in week three, but getting the season started with a trip to New York to play a California team presents a unique opportunity.

“The fact that this is very different is what I feel is most exciting,” said Roeder. “It’s a completely different opponent, venue and experience.”

Torrey Pines plays in California’s biggest classification and was 7-3 last season. California has always been a football hotbed and now Freedom players will have the chance to see how they stack up against their counterparts from the west coast.

“We will see how this goes but we felt this was a great opportunity to give our kids a different exciting experience with one of our open weeks,” Roeder said. “Our athletic office pursued a number of different options for Week 1 and we are thrilled how this has worked out so far.”