Freedom may have played better than they’re capable of during last Friday’s 53-34 win over Stroudsburg, but the Patriots followed that up with a disappointing loss at Quakertown on Saturday.

The 51-46 defeat to Quakertown was something that head coach Joe Stellato was worried about the day after blowing Stroudsburg out on their home court.

After picking up league wins over Bethlehem Catholic and their northern league foes over the week, ending the week with a loss to an inferior Quakertown team shows that despite Freedom’s 5-3 mark on the season, the Pates still need to find more consistency.

“We really didn’t show up to play,” said Stellato about last Saturday’s road game. “We didn’t perform and that’s something I was worried about after beating Stroudsburg. Were we going to be able to get ourselves up for another game on a back-to-back and we didn’t.”

Nick King paced Freedom with 15 points against Quakertown, as the Pates were never able to recover from a second quarter they were outscored by 10 to trail 35-27 at the half.

It was a role reversal from Friday’s outing with Stroudsburg, as Freedom outscored the Mounties 20-3 in the second period after being tied at 10 to open the quarter.

“I think we played as good as we could against Stroudsburg,” said Stellato. “All of these league games are really important for us. To be 4-1 in the league right now is a good position for us to be in, but we need more consistency. We’re getting better, but we still have a long way to go.”

Freedom will travel to the Unionville Christmas tournament on Dec 28 and 29, where they’ll play two 4A schools on each day of the tourney.

Liberty (4-2, 3-1) posted wins over Dieruff and Pleasant Valley and have contests against Pocono Mountain West and Spring-Ford before the holiday break. The Hurricanes will stay close to home and play at the Parkland Holiday Tournament, where they’re slated to play La Salle College on Sunday at 6pm. The ’Canes play on Monday at Parkland as well.

Bethlehem Catholic (3-3, 2-2) split their games last week, losing to Freedom 43-35 but topping East Stroudsburg South 51-46 on Friday. The Hawks took on Pleasant Valley on Tuesday before they head to the Robert H. Griffith Holiday Tournament in York.