Saturday night lights flooded Bethlehem Area School District Stadium for a different kind of football as the Freedom Patriots took down the Liberty Hurricanes, 2-0, in a city rivalry futbol match.

“I was the happiest tonight with our effort level,” said Freedom head coach Tyler Nolan. “Every time we play here, it’s always a physical, energetic, intense match. You have to match their intensity and that drive...Especially tonight, it’s a rivalry match, night game, beautiful night to right the ship, to get a clean sheet, to get two quality goals, it’s a really nice way to continue.”

Freedom goalie Ben Rodriguez compiled nine saves in the match, most of them on shots by Fineas Brown.

Patriot defender Edwin Mora made a nice block on Brown’s third attempt and then drew a steal late in the first half in the final third.

“Mason (Duzant) and Erwin (Mora), my two center backs, performed very well, and our left and right backs are good assists,” said Rodriguez. “I just keep my eyes on the ball. If you panic too much, your hands are just gonna get wobbly, so you have to keep levelheaded. We felt pretty good (at halftime), knowing that this team is pretty good, honestly, and we felt the motivation to keep on pushing no matter what. When we scored, 1-0, we tried to treat it as a tied game.”

Patriot midfielder Gavin Lynch’s penalty kick from the 12-yard line put Freedom on the board in the 48th minute. The kick was so pure, the ball could be heard hitting the net.

“It was a great feeling, shooting that in the back of the net, especially against a great Liberty team, a rivalry team,” Lynch said. “I tried to whip it around the wall because the keeper was on the left side of the net.”

Brown was awarded a free kick from the 15-yard line which was saved by Rodriguez.

Lynch played a free kick to Omer Omana who took a header, and Evan Plasco had the finish in the 55th minute to make the score 2-0.

“I saw it get played, and then the loose ball to Omer, and then, just the right spot, right time,” said Plasco. “I intercepted the cross and scored. It felt good. It gave us a lot of motivation to keep on going and finish off the game. [Liberty] were very physical, they play hard, they had a couple great runs, but we just came out on top.”

Liberty goalie Thomas Horvath made three saves

“[Liberty] pressured us in the first half, and a lot of our touches were bouncing,” said Coach Nolan. “We couldn’t get quality passes, so a lot of it was just composure. Trust your ability, trust your touches, play little passes on the floor and then go at them a little bit. Tonight is probably the best showcase of what [Ben Rodriguez] can do.”