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Easton comes from behind and wins battle of EPC titans over Freedom

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| October 19, 2024

Easton-

This one definitely lived up to its billing and may be considered the game of the year so far in the EPC.  Easton, winners of their last 7 games, rolled in to Bethlehem on undefeated Freedom‘s Senior Night and played the role of spoiler.  In a tightly contested matchup, Easton played from behind a majority of the game and took only their 2nd lead in the 4th quarter after scoring on the opening drive of the game.  The Red Rovers won the opening coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff and went straight to work.  Easton quarterback Cole Ordway led his team on a 9 play opening drive which he capped off with a 6 yard QB run around the left side to open to scoring for the game and put Easton up 6-0 after a blocked extra-point.

Freedom looked to bounce back with a score of their own on their first possession of the game, but their hopes were dashed quickly by Easton as Willie Day picked off Patriot QB Chase Walker on the 3rd play of the Patriot’s drive.


Not to be outdone, Freedom’s defense caused a turnover on the very next play as the Patriot defense stripped the ball away and recover a fumble to get the ball right back in to the hands of a potent Patriot offense.  The Freedom offense got right back to work, feeding the ball to star running back Aaron Beete to start the drive off with two big runs.  After establishing a solid drive and getting deep in to Red Rover territory, the turnover bug bit again as  Walker was picked off in the end-zone by Cael DiSora to end the Patriot threat.

The Easton offense took the field and stuck almost exclusively to the ground game and their two work-horse backs Willie Day and Dorian Thomas.  However, after a sustained 9 play drive which saw the Rovers amassing 4 first downs and chewing up a bunch of clock, the Patriot defense tightened up and stopped the Red Rover offense on 4th down to get the ball back for their offense.  The Patriots found success 0n the ground and through the air on this possession as the Red Rover defense seemed to not have an answer for Aaron Beete on the ground or for Chase Walker tossing the ball around the field.  The 10 play Freedom drive, which included a beautiful 38 yard downfield strike from Walker to Jelani Fredrick was capped off with a 1 yard plunge up the middle by Walker for a touchdown which put the Patriots up 7-6 with just over 9 minutes left in the half.

On the ensuing drive, the Red Rover offense managed to pick up a first down on the legs of Dorian Thomas, but the Freedom defense forced a punt to get the ball back for their offense in hopes of increasing their 1 point lead.  Walker took to the air finding Amare DuBoise twice on the drive, but the Willie Day and the Easton defense cut this drive short with another interception.

The Red Rover offense took the field but they were unable to get anything going this possession and went 3 and out.  After the punt, the Freedom offense got off to a hot start with Beete picking up a quick first down with a 12 yard jaunt and Walker finding Fredrick for a 16 yard gain on the opening 2 plays of the drive.    The Easton defense had seen enough and big sack by the Rovers’ Mekhi Grant put the Patriots far behind the sticks and led the game in to half.

Receiving the 2nd half kickoff, the Freedom offense got off to a quick start as Walker found a wide open Jelani Fredrick for a long 42 yard gain on the 2nd play of the half which set up the Freedom offense at the Red Rover 15  yard-line.


After a reverse by Shacre Colwell brought the ball to the Easton 5, a  hand-off to Beete and another plunge up the middle by Walker had the Patriots on the board once again bringing the score to 14-6 with 10:20 left in the 3rd quarter.

The ensuing Easton possession saw a heavy dose of Dorian Thomas who carried the Rover offense down the field on a lengthy 11 play drive and capped it off a 1 yard run to bring the score to 14-12 in favor of the hosts after a failed 2 point attempt with 6 :23 left in the 3rd quarter.

Both defenses would then go on to force 3 and outs on their ensuing drives.  The scoring drought came to an end close to the end of the 3rd quarter as Walker found Beete out of the backfield for a 17 yard score to bring the score to 21-12 in favor of Freedom with 1 : 24 left in the 3rd quarter.

Not to be outdone, Willie Day and the Red Rovers returned the ensuing kickoff all the way back to the Freedom 4 yard-line and then on the very next play Dorian Thomas found the end-zone for this 2nd score of the night.  The extra-point attempt was successful and brought the score to 21-19 in favor of the host Patriots.

A strong showing by the Easton defense which forced a 3rd and forever due to a long intentional grounding penalty cause another Patriot punt after a 3 and out which put the game in the hands of the Freedom Defense.  The Red Rover offense would not be denied on this drive.  Dorian Thomas  led the way on the ground and quarterback Cole Ordway found wideout JC Wilson along the sideline on a crucial 3rd down and long to convert for a first down and kept the Easton drive alive.


Four plays later, the Red Rovers would find pay-dirt once again.  Dorian Thomas once again up the middle for this 3rd score on the evening and giving the Rovers their first lead since the first quarter.  The 2 point try was stopped by Freedom which brought the score to 25-21 in favor of the visiting Red Rovers with 9:05 left in the game.

The Rovers would once again force a quick 3 and out for the Patriots who put their faith in their defense to quickly get the ball back for them.  This would not be the case however as the Red Rover offense would go on a lengthy time-consuming drive leaving just over a minute left for the Freedom offense to drive down the field to win the game.  With no time-outs remaining, it seemed for a moment like Walker and the Patriots may just in fact pull it off as he found Amare DuBoise on 4th and 7 for a huge 30 yard gain which got the ball in to Easton territory.  However, it was not to be.  The next play saw the Rover defense deflect a Walker pass high up in to the air in the middle of the field and Mason Fleming made a diving interception to seal the upset for the Red Rovers.

The Red Rover offense would take the field and with one snap in victory formation, this game was over.  With the victory, Easton improves to 8-1 on the year and will welcome Nazareth to Cottingham next week.  The Blue Eagles are fresh off a 47-21 victory over Northampton this week.  With the loss, Freedom (8-1) has dropped just their first game of the year and faces off against Liberty next week.  The Hurricanes face off against Bethlehem Catholic this Saturday.

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