When Devin Martinez isn’t chasing quarterbacks, he likes to sink his teeth into a big, juicy steak.

Thanks to his four-sack performance against Freedom last Friday, he’ll get to have steak very soon. That’s because the coaches struck a deal with the senior linebacking corps, telling them five tackles for a loss would result in a dinner.

And with the help of Zach Pantoni and Jacob Snyder, Martinez and his fellow linebackers will be enjoying that tasty slice of beef as a result of their effort against the visiting Patriots.

While Dez Boykin was dazzling the crowd with his offensive performance, including nine catches for 191 yards and two TDs, Martinez was helping shut down the Freedom passing attack. That was no more important than in the fourth quarter when he caught Joe Young at the Freedom 11-yard-line for a seven-yard loss. That came on a critical third-and-four as the Pates were looking to tie the game after Whitehall took the lead, 35-28.

But Martinez and his teammates forced the Pates to punt the ball. The Zephs took advantage of the short field and Boykin capped the five-play drive with an 11-yard touchdown run, his fourth score of the game, giving the Zephyrs the 41-28 victory.

The win raises the Zephyrs record to 4-3, with a game against Bethlehem Catholic on the horizon.

Martinez said he and the middle linebackers were attacking the quarterback on certain defensive calls based on what the tight end would do. On that play they blocked the middle linebacker.

“That left me free and no one picked me up, and when the quarterback turned his back, I got him,” said Martinez.

That play took the wind out of the Patriots, who are capable of scoring from anywhere on the field thanks to the fleet-footed Dashaun Peterson, who put together touchdown runs of 13, 65, 11 and 54 yards.

Most of that damage was done in the first half, and after Peterson broke off that 54-yarder in the third quarter, the Whitehall defense allowed him only 22 yards the rest of the way. He finished the game with 247 yards rushing.

Martinez, who has played against the veteran Patriot quarterback before, said the key to stopping Young is to make sure to he doesn’t get past contain.

“He’s very mobile and he can throw on the run, so we have to keep him in the pocket, and if he does scramble, we have to keep him inside of us,” said Martinez, who had a team high seven tackles.

Young finished the game 8-for-17 for 83 yards.

While Peterson was running roughshod through the Whitehall defense, Freedom had its own defensive nightmare in Boykin. In addition to his two receiving, and one rushing touchdown, he also had a kickoff return for a score. After Kasai Harrison flipped him the ball on a pitch, he ran 85 yards for the score, giving the Zephs a 14-7 lead.

That lead was short-lived. Peterson put the Pates up 21-14. But Zach Gilbert found Boykin for a 68-yard score to take a 28-21 lead in the second half.

Boykin’s performance wasn’t a surprise to head coach Brian Gilbert and the coaching staff.

“He’s been doing that all year and sometimes stuff like that works and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Gilbert. “We have enough weapons that we can do something different. Tonight Dez was the difference maker.”

Gilbert said that what separates Boykin from other players in the league is his strength.

Also making a difference was Zach Gilbert. He orchestrated five scoring drives, throwing for 266 yards, including three touchdowns. Jackson Buskirk nabbed the other touchdown toss on a four-yard strike. Zach Gilbert now has 1,355 yards on the season.

“He played well,” said Gilbert. “He really made some good throws.”

That go-ahead score to Buskirk was set up following a punt block by Dabriel Ayala.

Gilbert said that the mission at halftime was to win the third quarter. They accomplished that with a quick score, and then met the challenge of stopping Peterson with a defense that buckled down in the final 20 minutes.

Martinez said halftime was more about what they needed to do, coupled with some adjustments.

“We just needed to fix ourselves,” said Martinez.