As he stood on the field at Northeast High School in Philadelphia three years ago following a 42-14 loss to St. Joe’s Prep in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals, Freedom coach Jason Roeder was pretty clear about what had just happened.
“You don’t need me to tell you how good a football team they have; their track record speaks for itself,” he said. “I thought we prepared well and we came in with the right attitude and effort to compete, but they force you to play near-perfect football and limit your mistakes and we didn’t play near-perfect today.”
Three years later, Freedom will play St. Joe’s Prep again in the same round of the state tournament and after preparing well throughout the week, the challenge is the same as it was in 2018 — limit mistakes and play near-perfect football.
That’s about the only way the Patriots can pull off what would be considered one of the biggest upsets in the state football tournament and advance where no other Freedom team has gone — to the state semifinals.
It won’t be easy, of course, but Freedom has faced challenges all season and is eager to take on one more in the defending 6A PIAA champs who have won six state crowns since 2019 and have gone 19-1 in PIAA playoff games.
There’s no sense in worrying about the opposition.
“We’re going to focus on what we can control,” Roeder said. “They have D-1 kids as usual. But we haven’t talked to our kids about them. We’re focused on what we do well and trying to do it to the best of our ability on Friday night.”
St. Joe’s Prep has a different coach from three years ago. Tim Roken, who is 27-4 in his third season, replaced Gabe Infante, but had been on the staff previously as an assistant. He is considered an offensive mastermind and has been selected as the East coach for the All-American Bowl.
“They haven’t really changed schemes much,” Roeder said. “They do a lot of the same stuff they did under Infante.”
From all accounts, this is a young St. Joe’s Prep that took some time to come together.
The Hawks have played teams from Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Georgia. They lost to a team from Milton, Georgia, 28-21, in their second game of the season. They also lost to fellow Philly Catholic League power LaSalle College, 28-21, on Oct. 2.
Since then, St. Joe’s Prep has won seven in a row and avenged the previous loss to La Salle with a 35-7 win in the Catholic League title game, their 23rd PCL championship. They also won their eighth District 12 crown by beating Northeast 41-7 last week.
The Hawks have given up just 54 points in their last five games.
“Like any young team it was a team that was just feeling its way early in the season,” said writer Joe Santoliquito, who has covered St. Joe’s Prep for easternpafootball.com. “It’s a team that would look brilliant one second and had problems the next. In their first game against La Salle, their defense fell apart in the second half and their offense was not consistent.
“But between that early October game and the Catholic League championship game, they looked totally different. They’re running a lot of different schemes and doing things people haven’t seen on film before. The talent is coming together.”
Santoliquito said Rocco Nichol, who started the year at safety and is now an outside linebacker, personifies what the team is all about as he has found his niche and is a defensive leader.
“At the start of the year, it was a team with a bunch of guys in new roles and new positions and they were struggling to learn their roles,” Santoliquito said. “At Prep, you begin at the deep end and you either sink or swim. They had a team that was pressing early on because they weren’t playing up to their potential, but now they are coming into their own.”
The same could be said of Freedom which began 2-2 and has now won nine straight.
They have had to come from behind several times and never make things easy, including last week’s district title win over Emmaus, but have found a way to persevere.
“I know the work our kids and coaches put in,” Roeder said. “I know other teams do, too, but for us to win a district championship and be at this point is really gratifying. It’s a great group. We just want to have another practice on Monday.”
PIAA CLASS 6A QUARTERFINAL
Who: Freedom (District 11 champ, 11-2) vs. St. Joe’s Prep (District 12 champ, 9-2)
When/where: 6 p.m. at Cardinal O’Hara High School, Springfield
At stake: A berth in the state semifinals Dec. 3-4 against District 1 champ either Garnet Valley or Coatesville.
Top storylines: The Patriots are trying to become the first District 11 team to beat St. Joe’s Prep in the state playoffs after six previous teams met the Hawks in the quarterfinals and lost, including Freedom in 2018. The Patriots have won nine in a row after a 2-2 start and won their second district title in four seasons last week with a 28-14 win over Emmaus. SJP has a 15-1 record in state playoff games and has won six state titles and finished second once, in 2017. Five recent graduates from Prep are currently playing Division I college football — Kyle McCord and Marvin Harrison at Ohio State, Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. at Clemson, Sahmir Hagans at Duke, and Brandon Sanders at Rutgers.
Who to watch: Freedom is led by running back Deante Crawford, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s top rusher with 1,585 yards and 24 touchdowns on 243 carries despite missing two games with an injury. Patriots quarterback Brian Taylor is 92-177 passing for 1,406 yards and 15 touchdowns. Owen Johnson leads Freedom in receiving with 26 catches for 542 yards and 6 TDs. Johnson also leads in tackles with 72 and Daniel Macon has added 69. Braelin Moore leads with 6.5 sacks and Connor Stofanak has five interceptions and Lorenzo Feliciano has four picks. St. Joe’s Prep gets big rushing production from Samaj Jones, who started the year at quarterback, Kahseim Phillips, and Erik Sanchez. Jones and Phillips have nine TDs apiece. David Washington and Elijah Jones are among the big receiving threats for an offense that averages 30.6 points per game. Josiah Trotter leads the defense with 83 tackles and James Heard has 10.5 sacks.
What to expect: St. Joe’s Prep would like to start fast and hit Freedom with some big plays immediately to get Freedom away from its running game. The Patriots will need to settle in and get used to the speed and size of the Hawks and get some defensive stops. Freedom must also avoid the turnovers that nearly derailed it against Emmaus. The Patriots coaching staff knows what to expect, but it’s still a whole new world for the players who will be playing for the first time outside the EPC. If Freedom can avoid costly mistakes and limit the big plays, it has a chance to keep this game competitive.
Keith Groller’s pick: St. Joe’s Prep 28-17.
