It was a somber ending to a season that seemed destined for championship glory, but Freedom’s football team felt the pain of a crushing postseason loss on their home turf last Friday night.

The Pates (10-2) lost to Parkland 24-21 in the District 11 6A semifinals at BASD Stadium, cutting short a season that had championship aspirations, but was left in tears.

Parkland (10-2) overcame a 21-14 third quarter deficit to score the game’s final 10 points to secure the Trojans sixth district final appearance since 2016 where they’ll meet Emmaus (10-2) Friday night at Whitehall.

But for a Freedom team that raced out to district supremacy throughout most of the regular season, walking away from BASD Stadium with a loss last week was one of the most difficult in coach Jason Roeder’s tenure with the program.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Roeder. “I know a lot of these kids since they’re little and to not get the ending I felt they deserved is tough to take.”

Freedom led 14-7 late in the second quarter thanks to a 14-yard Aaron Beete rushing touchdown and a 12-yard TD reception by Amare Duboise from Chase Walker. Parkland was able to grab some momentum heading into halftime when Domenic Martrich hauled in a three-yard touchdown reception from Osmany Guzman with 18 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 14 following the extra point.

Freedom answered in the third quarter with a 15-yard touchdown run by Beete, his second of a 106-yard performance on the night to take a 21-14 lead, but that would be the last time the Patriot offense would score this season. Parkland chipped away with a 37-yard field goal by Doug Bell midway through the third period and took command with 2:12 left in the period following a three-yard rushing score by TJ Lawrence to lead 24-21.

Lawrence ran 33 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns (one receiving), as Parkland won the battle up front. The Trojans ran for 212 yards on the night and had little resistance in the second half, as they gouged Freedom for chunk running plays.

“The ability to run the ball and stop the run when you look back, that’s where this game was won and lost,” said Roeder. “The touchdown [by Parkland] before the half didn’t help. You’d like to go into half up a score, but Parkland’s a good football team and they controlled the line of scrimmage and they deserved to win it.”

After Parkland missed a field goal late in the fourth quarter to give the Pates the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead, Blake Nassry ended any Freedom hope with an interception on a deep pass in Parkland territory with 1:15 left in regulation to ignite the Parkland celebration.

In other news, Aaron Beete set a new Freedom single-season, rushing record for the season with 1,748 yards.