Freedom falls to Washington 28-0; eliminated in round two of playoffs

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

PFN Staff | November 9, 2019

Written by: Jalynn Falk Matthew Levenson

The Freedom Bulldogs traveled to Cannon Mac Friday night to take on the Washington Prexies in a chilly, second-round matchup. The Bulldog’s defense held the number one seeded Prexies as best as they could, however, the offense was unable to find a way to put points on the board.

The Prexies received the ball to start the game and drove downfield over the course of the next three minutes. The Bulldogs made their first of many fourth-down stops, backed up on their own 17-yard line, keeping the game scoreless.

It wasn’t until there was 3:22 left in the first, that Washington scored their first points of the night on a 1-yard touchdown run from their quarterback.

With 38 seconds left in the first, the Bulldogs found themselves with the ball once again immediately after punting to the Prexies, when Brett Boyd recovered a fumble. Just 16 seconds later, Cole Beck gave the ball back to Washington, throwing an interception. The Prexies would turn their interception into points a little over a minute into the second quarter and take a 14-0 lead.

The Bulldog’s bad luck would continue when Beck was hit hard and fumbled on their next offensive possession. The Prexies recovered on the Bulldog’s 16-yard line, however, the Bulldog’s defense kept them from the endzone.

With 3:28 left in the first half, Beck threw his second interception of the night, giving the ball to Washington once again, this time on their 18-yard line. Again, the Bulldog’s defense came up big, stopping the Prexies from scoring in their own territory. Entering halftime, the Bulldogs were trailing 14-0.

Brett Boyd wraps up Washington’s quarterback Zach Swartz in the backfield for his second sack of the night.

The Bulldogs started the third quarter with a solid offensive drive. Freedom managed to get close to the end zone running off a lot of time however, their fourth-down attempt was stopped short and Washington took over on downs on the 13-yard line with 5:57 left in the quarter.

The Bulldog’s defense held the Prexies’ from moving the ball upfield. Washington attempted a fake punt on fourth down, but the pass was deflected by the Bulldog’s Noah Valles. This gave them possession on the 15-yard line with 5:02 left to go in the third quarter.

Still unable to move the ball on offense the Bulldog’s found themselves attempting a flea-flicker on fourth down but that effort was stopped short. Once again, the Prexies took over on downs.

This time, Washington broke free for a few big plays and capped the quick offensive drive off with an 8-yard touchdown run with just 39 seconds left to play in the third.

The fourth quarter played out similar to the previous quarters. The Bulldog’s defense made some good stops but the offense struggled to find ways to move the ball.

Washington scored once more on a 32-yard touchdown run to take a 28-0 lead with 6:52 left to play in the game.

Although Washington put up 28 points, the Bulldog’s defense held them very well. They had many stops deep in their own territory and made a lot of big plays. Josh Pail led the team with 13 tackles, followed by Boyd who had 10 tackles and two sacks.

“A lot didn’t go right on offense. Defensively we played really well, for as long as we could. Obviously they’re athletic, they’re big, we just couldn’t put anything together on offense really. When you don’t score you can’t win, so that’s on me. We have to find a way next year to figure out how to get a little better on offense. Like I said, I thought we played some really good defense so we need to go back to the drawing board and try to work hard this season and take the next step next year,” Head Coach Greg Toney said.

The Bulldogs finished the season with a record of 8-4 after falling in the second round of the playoffs 28-0.

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