There’s a fine line between winning and losing in sports and Freedom made enough plays last week to come out victorious.

The Patriots used a three touchdown performance from running back Roberto Diez in last week’s 31-27 win at Nazareth to stay undefeated at 2-0.

But the upset minded Blue Eagles (1-1) had different plans throughout the night, as an 80-yard TD reception by sophomore wide receiver Jahan Dotson put Nazareth ahead 27-24 with 5:52 left in the game following a two-point conversion.

But that’s when Freedom put their trust in Diez, who rushed for 174 yards on the night, when he plunged in from a yard out with 1:47 remaining for the winning score.

“Roberto is our number one back and we relied on him heavily,” said Freedom head coach Jason Roeder. “We just kept feeding him.”

With Freedom’s passing game struggling, Diez became the focus, as he carried the ball 32 times on the night. With quarterback Joe Young suffering through an 8-for-17 night with 102 yards passing and two interceptions, the Pates ran a total of 48 times against Nazareth for 199 yards.

With the team getting their first dose of adversity in the young season, Roeder was glad they were able to respond with a win.

“We have to fix the mistakes we made going forward,” he said. “Still have some penalty issues we need to clean up. Our center exchange needs to get better. We need to execute better. It’s only week three, but we need to get better everyday.”

The Pates will look for that trend to continue this week when they host Emmaus (1-1) on Friday night. The Green Hornets got walloped by Easton 49-7 last week, as the Rovers scored on a punt return, a trick-play and a fumble return in part of a dominating performance.

“Obviously, Easton got out to an early lead on them and that’s something we want to do as well,” said Roeder of Easton grabbing a 14-0 lead on Emmaus after running only one offensive snap early in the first quarter. “They [Emmaus] have a big, physical offensive line that we’re going to have to match up with. They like to run downhill and that’ll be a challenge for our guys this week.”

Kyle Boney carried the ball 27 times for 152 yards and a score last week for the Green Hornets, as he’s the key piece of their backfield and offense.

Limiting Boney and forcing quarterback Derek Sheaffer (5-of-12, for 20 yards and an interception last week) to throw the ball is what the Pates defense would prefer.

“This is a very different team than what we saw last week against Nazareth,” said Roeder. “We have to match up with them and their scheme, but we’re confident we can do that.”