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NAZARETH MAKES A STATEMATE IN KEY EPC WIN OVER FREEDOM

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| September 14, 2019


BETHLEHEM- In a battle of the two top quarterbacks in the EPC Friday night at BASD Stadium, Nazareth’s Andrew Harris outdueled Freedom’s signal caller Jared Jenkins to lead the Blue Eagles to a 35-33 decision over the Patriots before a lage contingent of fans who made it out on a cool crisp night in the Christmas city. In doing so Harris became the school’s all-time leader in touchdown passes at 61, when he connected with Nathan Stefanik for a 24 yard bullet in the fourth quarter. Nathan’s older brother Travis Stefanik held the record at 60.

Harris was mentioned all week that he would need a big game to overcome the defending Distrct XI 6A Champions and come up big he did as he completed 19 of 22 attempts for 235 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 73 yards to cap off his night.

Freedom (3-1 overall, 2-1 EPC South) scored on their opening drive, after forcing Nazareth to a three-and-out, when Jalen Stewart took a handoff around the end and scampered down the sideline for a 58 yard jaunt and a 7-0 lead just a 1:55 into the contest.


Nazareth (4-0, 3-0) grabbed a 14-7 lead on two short scoring runs. The first by Joe Capobianco with 1:41 left in the opening quarter from two yards out, the second by Logan Gromm from a yard out on the first paly of the second stanza.

Jared Jenkins then connected with Vince Reph out in the flat and darted in for a 29 yard score, but the PAT was missed leaving the score at 14-13 with 9:37 left in the half.

Harris, didn’t waste anytime getting the Blue Eagles back on the scoreboard with a 21 yard pass to Tyler O’Hagan at the 8:36 mark. Harris called his own number for a one yard dive with just 49 seconds left in the half giving his team a 28-13 lead at intermission.


The Patriots got the ball to start the second half. An exchange punts gave Freedom the ball at their own 15, using most of time on the clock on the drive Jenkins (195 yards three TD’s) dropped a dime to Gabe Caton from 32 yards out to make score 28-20 heading into the final quarter.

Harris the set the record, when rolling to his right he fired a dart to Stefanik along the sideline in the end zone at the 10:32 mark to make it 35-20.

Freedom marched down the field on their ensuing posession capped off by a 29 yard pass from Lenkins to Matt Russin making it 35-27 with still 10:18 laeft in the contest.

Jalen Stewart, who rushed for 162 yards and two scores then broke free through the Blue Eagle line en route for a 49 yard score to make it 35-33, but the 2 point conversion pass attempt was knocked down by Stefanik.


Nazareth sealed the deal when Harris connected with Jaiden Cabrera on a third and one that went for 14 yards with under two minutes left which allowed the Blue Eagles to take knee on final two snaps to clinch it.

Stefanik ended up with 124 yards on 7 catches, O’Hagan had three receptions for 42 yards and Cabrera had 7 catches for 42 yards. The Blue Eagles also rushed for 175 yards on the night.

Uncharacteristically, the Patriots didn’t help their cause with penalties finishing with 11 for 99 yards, including a couple of personal fouls called.

“I am so proud of these guys. We fought and battled all night. We had to pull a few tricks out of the bag. Offensively, we did just enough to execute” Nazareth coach Tom Falzone said after the game.

Nazareth, now will be at home next Friday to do battle with Bethlehem Catholic( 2-1, 1-1), who face Parkland Saturday night. Freedom will be on the road at Whitehall (0-3, 0-2) as they face Allentown Central Catholic Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium.

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