Freedom football shows guts in thrilling interstate victory over Phillipsburg

Freedom High School football head coach Jason Roeder believed his 2026 team had guts. But he wasn’t completely sure until Friday night.

The Patriots, ranked No. 5 by lehighvalleylive.com, rallied from a deficit twice in the fourth quarter to defeat top-ranked Phillipsburg 32-31 in a thrilling interstate contest at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

“It’s early in the year and you never completely know your team’s resiliency,” Roeder said. “You hope and you think that your character is there and that you can be resilient ... Coming off the year we had last year (5-6) and coming off the way we lost last week (to Parkland), I’m just really, really proud of how tough we were tonight.”

Freedom (2-1) bounced back from a disappointing 41-21 loss to Parkland and prevented the Stateliners (2-1) from sweeping through the three Eastern Pennsylvania Conference teams at the start of their schedule.

“It’s exciting. P’burg came in, they beat two Pa. teams (Parkland and Emmaus). We take that personally,” Freedom senior quarterback Michael Stofanak said. “We pride ourselves in playing physical, tough EPC football, and I think that’s what we did tonight.”

The Stateliners, in their first meeting against Freedom since 1994, took the lead when junior running back Xavier Campbell-Graham emerged from a pile at the line of scrimmage and sprinted 49 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing extra point was blocked, however, leaving the visitors’ advantage at 23-17 with 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Patriots responded almost instantly. On the second play of the following series, Stofanak pump-faked and launched a 63-yard touchdown to senior wideout Davyan Moore on a slant-and-go.

“I’ve just got to throw it far,” Stofanak said about connecting with Moore. “I’ll let him go chase it. He can go find it.”

Senior Nathan Stannard converted the extra point as Freedom regained the lead, 24-23, 8 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Phillipsburg leaned on its rushing attack and crossed midfield before facing fourth-and-3 at Freedom’s 40-yard line. Stateliners senior tailback Shane Moore moved the chains with a 6-yard gain. On the next snap, junior quarterback Dominic Bracco raced around the left side, picked up a couple of blocks downfield and scored a 34-yard touchdown. Bracco connected with junior wide receiver David Pacewicz for a two-point conversion, putting Phillipsburg ahead 31-24 with 7:20 remaining.

The Patriots quickly answered with a four-play drive that went 61 yards in 1 minute and 5 seconds. Freedom senior running back Lashawn Johnson took a 39-yard carry to Phillipsburg’s 6 and scored on the following play.

“We responded with physicality, maturity,” Johnson said. “We didn’t put our heads down. We just kept pushing.”

The Patriots then sent out their extra-point team with the intention of drawing Phillipsburg offside. The plan worked, and an encroachment penalty moved the ball from the 3- to the 1.5-yard line. Freedom’s offense came back onto the field, and Johnson scored the two-point conversion to put the hosts in front once more, 32-31.

“That was designed. I told them, ‘We’re going to try to draw them off. We have a play for 1.5 [yards],’” Roeder said. “The kids executed.”

After a touchback, Phillipsburg took over at its 20 with 6:15 remaining in the contest. The Stateliners methodically worked their way down the field before facing fourth-and-1 at Freedom’s 47-yard line. Campbell-Graham pushed forward for a 3-yard gain and a fresh set of downs.

Three plays later, Shane Moore converted a third-and-1 with a 2-yard gain, giving the Stateliners first-and-10 at Freedom’s 33 as the clock ticked within the final minute.

After two incompletions, Patriots junior defensive lineman Ky Moore blew up a jet sweep for a 10-yard loss on third down. Phillipsburg called a timeout, facing fourth-and-20 with 20 seconds remaining on the clock. Bracco was flushed from the pocket and his pass fell incomplete, securing the victory for the Patriots.

“I love this team ... We don’t go into the tank,” Stofanak said. “We come out; we play hard. Stuff happens, but we’ve got leaders. We’ve got guys that will keep that morale up and keep us going.”

Early action

After forcing a punt on Freedom’s opening possession of the evening, Phillipsburg started the scoring with a 71-yard, 12-play series that included two third-and-long conversions. Bracco capped the drive with an 18-yard TD run via a huge hole up the middle.

The advantage was short-lived as the Patriots trekked 80 yards on the next series. Johnson got his team on the scoreboard with a 3-yard touchdown off the left side with 49 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Stannard pushed the Patriots ahead, 10-7, with a 36-yard field goal midway through the second frame.

Freedom extended its lead when Stofanak found junior wide receiver Marquise Chapman wide open in the end zone for a 7-yard TD with 1:20 left before intermission. Chapman had a 49-yard reception earlier in the same series.

P’burg regained some momentum before the break thanks to a 47-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Hunter Garrison, trimming the deficit to 17-10.

The Stateliners leveled the score quickly in the third quarter, taking the opening possession 70 yards in five plays. Bracco linked with senior wideout Amir Heath for a 54-yard completion, and three snaps later, Campbell-Graham crossed the goal line from 2 yards away.

“I really liked how our guys bounced back and fought there,” Phillipsburg head coach Frank Duffy said. “We just made too many mistakes against a good team. We’ll get back to work. I told these guys, this feeling right now, in the long run, is going to be beneficial for us.”

Returning to N.J.

Duffy was disappointed in the result but ultimately content with what his team will take from its opening three-game slate against Eastern Pennsylvania Conference competition.

“That was a great football game against a great team ... We got everything we wanted out of this,” Duffy said. “This is making us better for the end of the year. We know what the ultimate goal is.”

Shane Moore finished with 24 carries for 117 yards. Campbell-Graham added 95 yards and two TDs on 13 carries.

Bracco was 8 of 16 for 157 yards. He rushed for 90 yards and two scores.

Phillipsburg’s leading tackler, junior linebacker Vincent Berger, was injured in the first quarter and didn’t return.

“That certainly hurt, especially with the running back that they have and the running attack that they have,” Duffy said.

P’burg, of course, will play one more EPC squad when it meets Easton on Thanksgiving. This season marks the most Pennsylvania opponents the Stateliners have faced since leaving the old East Penn Conference in 1994-95. The scheduling shift was a positive experience, according to Duffy. The large crowd at BASD Stadium suggested that fans agreed.

“We’re leaving here after three games and saying, you know what? We belong with these teams,” Duffy said. “I’m excited to continue this for as many years as we can, because this is good football over here. This is quality football; this is what high school football is all about. That was a classic game; we just ended up on the wrong side of it.”

The ’Liners will start the New Jersey portion of their schedule by hosting Hillsborough next week in a Big Central Conference American Silver Division contest.

Patriot power

Johnson registered 22 carries for 167 yards and two touchdowns. The tailback bounced back from a second-half fumble.

“It was just my guys telling me to keep my head up and staying with God,” Johnson said about recovering from the turnover.

“We always talk and preach that it’s about the next play, the next play, the next play,” Roeder added. “Easier said than done, but he walked the walk tonight on that.”

Stofanak completed 9 of 16 passes for 190 yards and two scores.

“They had a nasty pass rush. So, we went with a little extra protection to help him and picked and chose when we took our shots,” Roeder said. “We kept him upright against a heck of a pass rush and the kids made plays.”

Chapman caught six passes for 107 yards and a TD.

Freedom will open its EPC Northampton Division schedule next week against Nazareth. The Blue Eagles will provide an entirely different challenge stylistically for the Patriots.

“That’s a whole different monster, and that’s the nature of the beast in our conference,” Roeder said. “It’ll obviously be a lot of different preparation. Hopefully, we’ll use the momentum from tonight, the confidence that we’ve built, to get ready for a league game.”

On Friday, the Patriots were happy they could answer the bell and defend their home turf.

“We challenged them at the beginning of the week ... We were reading a lot about physicality,” Roeder said. “But we challenged them to show what we pride ourselves in, too.”