When Freedom defeated Parkland back in week two of the football season, Jason Roeder knew there was a chance he’d see Parkland in November.

That’s the case this week when the Pates (9-2) host the Trojans (9-2) Friday night at BASD Stadium in the District 11 6A semifinals.

Both teams are coming off convincing wins in the district quarterfinals, as Freedom toasted Northampton for the second time in a month following their 38-15 win last week.

Parkland licked their wounds from a shutout loss to Emmaus in week 10 to handle Liberty 27-9 last week to pit two of the most successful programs over the last decade in another playoff showdown.

Roeder knows all too well that a rematch this late in the season against a team like Parkland will be different from the 30-13 victory they celebrated back in August.

“When we walked off the field in week two, I told Tim [Moncman] that we’d see them in November,” said Roeder. “It’s a very different situation now. They were a young team back then and have matured and improved.”

Parkland won seven straight since that loss to Freedom before being tossed by Emmaus 27-0 in the regular season finale and got back on track last week against Liberty thanks to 354 yards of offense and three forced turnovers.

Osmany Guzman threw two touchdowns to Leo Dauberman and TJ Lawrence ran for a 124 yards and a touchdown to propel Parkland’s attack last week.

“They’ve moved some people around and improved in all aspects,” said Roeder. “They had a hiccup against Emmaus, but it’s not indicative on the type of year they had. The familiarity of this game is what it makes it difficult. We know each other pretty well. I think you try to find new wrinkles.”

Freedom hopes they have enough at their disposal to advance to the district championship against the winner of the Easton (10-1) and Emmaus (10-2) matchup.

District championship talk wasn’t something that Roeder had discussed with his team much this season, but with the opportunity at hand right in front of them, it’s hard not to think about.

“I think we’ll all be excited about this game,” Roeder said. “We haven’t talked about the championship game all year, but now it becomes part of the narrative. I hope that creates an uptick in practice.”