Excitement filled the Freedom sideline before last week’s District 2-11 4A subregional contest with Easton, but that changed quickly when Greg Albertson took the opening kickoff 85 yards to give the Rovers a lead they would never look back on.

Easton’s defense held Freedom to 131 yards offensively and six first downs, as a blustery night at BASD Stadium blew the Patriots out of the playoff picture with a 20-3 loss.

“We made too many mistakes to win a playoff football game,” said a somber Jason Roeder, who saw his team’s season end in back-to-back seasons to Easton in the playoffs. “You can’t give up the opening score of the game. That can’t happen. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively.”

Part of the reason for the Pates offensive woes was the health of quarterback Joe Young, who struggled mightily with a left knee injury he suffered late in the first quarter. Young was never fully functional the rest of the night. He finished 5-of-13 for 64 yards and threw a pick six early in the fourth quarter to put Easton ahead 20-3.

Jonah Gundrum came into the game in relief of Young, but was also dealing with a shoulder injury all week.

“Jonah didn’t throw a ball all week,” Roeder said. “First ball he threw all week was when he warmed up. It was tough to see Joe hurt again. My heart goes out to him because he’s a great competitor, but we just didn’t do enough to win this game.”

Freedom’s defense held the Rovers 199 yards of total offense and allowed one score, a 10-yard TD run by Nysir Minney-Gratz in the third quarter, but with the offense stuck in neutral, it was an uphill climb all night, as the Pates chased the game since the opening kickoff.

Freedom ends their season at 9-2 overall, along with a share of the East Penn Conference South Division title, their first taste of a conference championship in school history, but falling short in the postseason was a tough pill to swallow for those involved Friday night.

“It’s visible what it means to them,” Roeder said of the emotional postgame with his players. “To see high school kids invest so much in something bigger than themselves.

“This senior class will be successful moving forward, but now it’s time for a new group of kids to step up and continue this tradition.”