Freedom head coach Jason Roeder has been here before with undefeated starts to the football season. Following last week’s 49-28 road win at Nazareth, the Pates continued their trek to an undefeated first month of the season.

Sitting at 4-0 heading into this week’s matchup with Whitehall (1-3), Roeder has seen fast starts play out in the past, as the Pates started 7-0 in 2014 and 6-0 in 2015.

The difference in this year’s start compared to those is the quality of victories the team has been able to muster together thus far.

“I think when you can get back-to-back wins against teams like Bethlehem Catholic and Parkland, that’s usually a good sign,” Roeder said. “Then to get a win on the road against Nazareth, who are always tough and tricky on their turf, is just another sign we’re heading in the right direction.”

The Blue Eagles (1-3) tried their best to score an upset bid in the first half, as Anthony Harris threw a six-yard score to Nate Stefanik to give the Blue Eagles a 14-7 lead with 10:58 left in the first half.

From there, Freedom took over, scoring 21 straight to end the half and 28 unanswered into the third quarter to pull away for the win.

Quarterback Jared Jenkins continued his torrid start to the year by throwing three TD’s in the game, all in the second quarter, answering Harris’ TD with a 48-yard bomb to Justin Kinter to even things up at 14.

The Pates then parlayed a blocked punt and a 40-yard punt return to add two scores before halftime, as Jenkins hit Vincent Reph for a seven-yard TD and then added another gut punch by throwing a 17-yard TD to Matt Russin with 23 seconds left before the halftime clock.

Jenkins finished 10-of-17 for 148 yards and three scores.

“He’s doing everything we ask of him,” said Roeder of Jenkins. “He’s not forcing throws. He’s taking what the defense gives him and he’s doing a great job for us.”

And once Freedom took control, they let their running attack finish things off, as Sebastian Gibbs rushed for 148 yards and two second half scores, while Russin added 110 yards and a rushing TD on the night. Freedom totaled 467 yards of total offense in the contest, 315 of which came on the ground.

“We have a good senior group and the they’re executing well,” said Roeder. “I think they understand that each week presents a different challenge and they have to be prepared.”

This week’s challenge pits the Pates at home Friday night against Whitehall, who shocked Central Catholic for their win of the season with a 75-35 victory.

“They’ve made some personnel adjustments and they have some quality football players,” said Roeder of the Zephyrs. “They’re still trying to figure things out with new guys in their system, but we know we can’t give up explosive plays on offense. We also can’t have self inflicted wounds like we did against Nazareth. We had two scores called back because of penalties and those are the types of things we need to clean up.”