Freedom and Emmaus entered the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys soccer final having won their semifinal matches in overtime, and just when it appeared another overtime was imminent, Emmaus’

Conner Powell provided the game-winning goal in the final minutes to clinch the EPC championship for the Hornets, 1-0, on Oct. 18 at Northampton High School.

“Absolute relief is the best answer I can give,” said Emmaus head coach John Cari. “Freedom played a really good game. I thought they had a lot of better opportunities than we had that whole game.

Part of it is we played a lot of overtimes, and fatigue is a big factor. We are a tired team, and we’re sore and hurting, and I’m proud of our efforts that we were resilient to find a goal. It’s been a tough ride.”

Freedom goalie Ben Rodriguez made two tremendous saves on the attempts that preceded Powell’s goal.

“Ben made some absolutely phenomenal saves,” said Freedom head coach Tyler Nolan. “I feel terrible for him on that one because he makes two point-blank saves, and I don’t think any other keeper in this conference is making them.”

Canyon Reinhardt took the first shot that hit the left side of the crossbar.

“I saw the ball bouncing a lot in the box,” said Powell. “Canyon hit it off the crossbar. It bounced down, Brennan (Stack) touched it and then hit it to me, and I knew it was my chance, so I hit it in. The ball came off and then it went out and I didn’t know where the ball was landing so I knew I had to hit it.”

Freedom had little time to answer, but with time of possession in their favor in the second half, the Patriots were hopeful.

“Second half, I thought we were great, made some better decisions,” said coach Nolan. “We were more aggressive on the front foot. Just a couple of chances that, you know, Evan (Plasco) has a nice little cut-in and he shot on target that Gavin (Yartymyk) makes a good save on. Had another couple of half chances that we maybe didn’t manufacture. They’re a good defensive outfit, so getting opportunities against them is few and far between, but it was just that last final missing piece that didn’t come for us.”

Plasco’s shot came from an assist by Gavin Lynch, who was also awarded two free kicks.

They’re very physical, their throw-ins are very dangerous, and they have a couple kids who can get on one and find it,” said Coach Cari. “They didn’t quit, and I think that made a big difference.”

Rodriguez made two saves for the Patriots, and Yartymyk made four saves for the Hornets.

“They definitely had a lot of possession,” Yartymyk said. “As long as it’s not dangerous, I really don’t mind. We handled every defensive opportunity with quality. When the goal goes in, you celebrate for maybe a second, and then you switch into defensive mode and you understand they’re coming at you hard.”

After the match, the Hornets were presented with the EPC boys soccer championship trophy along with individual gold medals while the Patriots accepted individual silver.

“We played great,” said Powell, “but we know we need to be better. We were losing possession at times, but we find a way to win games. We always know that once we score, we’ll lock it down.”