Credit: James Lynch Jr. | The News Herald

Freedom defensive lineman Javairius Bennett (85) chases the East Rutherford quarterback out of the pocket and forces an interception in Friday's 42-14 win.

Freedoms gameplan was to control the clock while churning the ball via the rush. The Patriots accomplished that, galloping for 351 yards rushing en route to a 42-14 South Mountain 2A/3A Conference home triumph against East Rutherford on Friday.

We knew that they were a really good team only losing to Burns by five points, said Freedom coach Mike Helms. I thought this was one of the top three teams we have played up to this point. That is a credit to us. We played really well.

Freedom (7-2, 3-1) utilized the ground attack 52 times (80 percent) compared to 13 plays through the air. Running back David Burgess rushed 25 times for 206 yards and a touchdown, the sixth time this season hes gone for more than 200 all-purpose yards.

The senior standout also eclipsed the 3,000-yard barrier on the ground and now has 3,179 yards rushing in his three-year varsity career. This fall alone, hes at 195 carries for 1,736 yards (8.9 yards per carry)and 20 TDs.

Senior quarterback Shawn Fairchild completed 10 of 13 passes for 84 yards while also rushing 13 times for 46 yards and two touchdowns.

We were looking to come out and set the tone. I think we had a good gameplan coming in. The offensive line did a very good job, said Fairchild. We worked well around (East Rutherfords) blitzing. Coach Helms did a very good job of changing around the play calls. We had a lot of success with the read in the second half, which allowed us to run the ball well.

Freedom junior speedster Khris Gardin returned the opening kickoff 83 yards for a score. The wideout also caught eight passes for 76 yards. ERs first possession was stopped when Patriot linebacker Cameron Storie picked off an Austin Hollifield pass at the Cavs 42. Freedom then put together a seven-play, 42-yard drive capped by Fairchilds 1-yard TD run.

ER (4-5, 2-2) produced a touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Hollifield to Lovell Robinson to make it 14-7, then moved near midfield on the potential tying drive in the second period before Freedoms James Caldwell returned an interception 30 yards inside the red zone. Chris Bridges pounded home a 9-yard run to put the Pats back on top by two scores.

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Freedom blows out 3rd straight opponent as Burgess surpasses 3,000 yards