After a night filled with missed opportunities and miscues, the Zephyrs still had the chance to either tie or win the football game in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter against Freedom High School.

The Zephs had weathered three costly turnovers when they received the ball at their own 27-yard line with 2:11 to go in the final period. They were trailing by three points and needed to get at least a field goal to have the opportunity to advance to the semifinals of the District 2/4/11 subregional playoffs.

And when they strung together an 11-play drive that put the ball at the Freedom 8-yard line, it seemed they were going to punch their ticket into the semis. They had a first-and-goal with less than a minute left to play and four downs to complete the comeback.

That's when quarterback Gianni Sinatore rolled to his right looking for the go-ahead score through the air. However, the pass was intercepted by Brady Hornbaker, preserving Freedom's 17-14 victory and ending the Zephs hopes for a district title.

While that final turnover sealed their fate, the game was also marred by a number of missed opportunities. That list included a touchdown that was negated on a penalty, a missed field goal after their first attempt (which was good) was pushed back five yards after a motion penalty, an inability to push across a score from the 1-yard-line, getting stuffed on two opportunities before turning the ball over on downs, and a failed fake field goal attempt that fell incomplete.

Even though they were snake bit by turnovers, head coach Brian Gilbert felt they didn't play up to their capabilities.

"We didn't play well enough to win," said Gilbert.

While the Zephs led the game in almost every statistical category, they lost the turnover battle 4-1 to the Pates, with two of those resulting in points.

"That makes it tough, but we still had our chance even though we had those turnovers," said Gilbert. "We didn't capitalize on it.

"We were uncharacteristic with our turnovers. We didn't have that many this year."

In fact, the Zephs finished the regular season at a plus-six turnover margin. It was also the Zephs lowest offensive output of the season. They had been averaging 43 points per game until that point, but the Pates held their explosive offense to 316 total yards. They scored just one offensive touchdown and running back Saquon Barkley failed to score for the first time all season.

Prior to the game, Gilbert underscored the fact they had to come out fast and energized. However, their first two possessions ended in turnovers, with the first resulting in a pick six by Jacob Young. They also lost a fumble on a questionable call after Sinatore was hit in the backfield as the ball traveled 20 yards downfield where it was recovered by Freedom's John Callahan. It led to the go-ahead score when Roberto Diez found a seam and raced 40 yards for the score at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

With the loss, the Zephs finish the season at 8-3 with two of those losses coming against the Patriots.

Gilbert acknowledged they were anxious to play Freedom again after suffering the overtime loss earlier in the season. They looked forward to the rematch, players and coaches alike.

"Everyone in the program thought it was a team we could beat," said Gilbert.

But the Patriots proved to be a stubborn opponent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They held the Zephs to under 50 points in their two meetings, with seven of those points coming in an overtime session.

Still, the Zephs managed to grind out 200 yards on the ground with Barkley gaining 121 yards on 26 carries. A number of those were tough carries with Barkley at times dragging the entire Freedom defense in an effort to secure more real estate. The senior averaged 4.7 yards per carry, his lowest total of the year.

The Zephs also found success through the air, leading to their only offensive score of the game when Sinatore hit Zach Hixson on a 12-yard strike that trimmed the Pates lead to three in the second quarter. Their other TD came when Chad Rex blocked a punt. Rex, who has made a habit of blocking kicks this season, flew in from the left end and deflected the ball that was eventually scooped up by Tyler Cyriax for the score. That score gave the Zephs their first lead at 14-10. It held up until Freedom recovered the fumble at the end of the third quarter, eventually turning it into six points two plays later.

Still, the Zephs played well enough defensively to win the game, surrendering 17 points to the fourth-seeded Pates who had averaged a little over 32 points per game this season.

"Our defense played a good game," said Gilbert. "Unfortunately, we didn't play offensively like we had all year. We just didn't get it done."

The Zephs have been in every game this season, and Friday's game came down to the wire, something that's been the storyline of the season. This time it was Freedom who came up with the big play to survive and advance.

"They ended up making the plays and we didn't," said Gilbert.