Freedom High School football team rolls to 38-0 victory over Northampton Area High School

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Tajmire Flood found an open lane, broke to his left and didn't look back.

Neither did the rest of the Freedom High School football team.

Flood returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and the undefeated Patriots crushed Northampton 38-0 in a Lehigh Valley Conference football game Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

The senior defensive back said that Freedom coach Jason Roeder's comments to the team prior to the game inspired his long return.

"Coach Roeder gives us some touching speeches," Flood said. "I haven't got a kick yet and when they kicked it to me, I was shocked because nobody kicks it to me. I got it, I thought about Coach Roeder's speech and I saw an open lane, so I took it."

Roeder commended assistant coaches Kevin Hudak and Gene Legath for preparing the kickoff team to break a big play.

"Special teams are a huge part of the game and we work on it like crazy," he said. "I think we were overdue for one of those."

Three plays into Northampton's opening drive, a fumble by Jordan Smith was recovered by Domoree Hill at the Konkrete Kids' 19-yard line.

The Patriots would settle for a field goal as Sean Wrobel booted one from 32 yards out to make the score 10-0.

After a Northampton punt, Freedom orchestrated a methodical 12-play drive, which ended with running back Okezie Alozie stiff-arming a defender and carrying the ball off the right side for a 4-yard touchdown.

"We talked about executing," Roeder said. "We talked about playing hard, playing fast and taking care of the football. We did that tonight."

Early in the second quarter, Frank Bucsi made a leaping interception of a pass from Daniel Bauer, who took the snap in the Wildcat formation, to set up Freedom (6-0 overall, 5-0 LVC) at the 50-yard line. Five plays later, Andrew Klotz pounded the ball into the end zone from seven yards out to stretch the lead to 24-0.

"Coming into this game we knew that the end of our season was going to be the toughest part," said Freedom quarterback Brian Uliana, who finished 7-for-10 with 83 passing yards and a touchdown. "So, we knew we couldn't slack off and we couldn't take any team lightly."

Uliana showed some versatility in the Patriots' last drive of the second half when he faked an inside handoff and took the ball himself for a 60-yard gain before tumbling over at the Northampton 2-yard line. Alozie would eventually push the pile into the end zone from a yard out for his second score.

Uliana tossed a 12-yard touchdown to Bucsi with 11:53 remaining to make the score 38-0, putting the mercy rule in effect.

The Pates' offense picked up 14 of its 19 first downs by running the ball. Alozie finished with 41 yards along the ground.

A.J. Santiago added 32 rushing yards and Klotz contributed 24 yards on seven carries.

Brandon Heimbach led Northampton (1-5, 1-4) with 45 rushing yards. Smith caught three passes for 16 yards.

Freedom can now set its sights on its next opponent, Nazareth, which plays a 3-2 Bethlehem Catholic team today.

"We're obviously excited," Roeder said. "We're going to play in a huge game next weekend and when you play in a huge game in Week 7, it means you earned it.

"It's obviously not time to get complacent and pat ourselves on the back, we've got to get better. We know the type of stretch we have here and we can't wait."

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