Practicing in mid-November is an afterthought for members of Easton's football program.

The Red Rovers play a Thanksgiving game with Phillipsburg every year. They tend to have a playoff game or three to prep for before battling the Stateliners.

Before this week, Freedom's current players had never spent the second week of November practicing. The Patriots are coming off their first postseason win since 2008, when their oldest players were sixth-graders.

Playing deeper into the fall hasn't fazed Freedom. The Patriots bopped around Bethlehem Area School District Stadium on Wednesday, eager for another opportunity to play a team that handed them one of their two losses this season.

That opportunity arrives Friday. Fourth-seeded Freedom (9-2 overall) will make the short ride from Bethlehem to Cottingham Stadium for another crack at No. 1 seed Easton (11-0) in a Districts 2-11 Class 4A subregional semifinal.

"We're kind of in a rhythm now where we've been in big, emotional football games since Week 7," Freedom coach Jason Roeder said. "We understood we were going to be in this position. It's a matter of earlier in the week, coming back, recovering and then building as the week goes on, so we get back our intensity as the week goes on.

"That's what it's been all about. We expect to get back mentally and emotionally to get ready to go at another huge, intense football game Friday night."

Freedom's first trip to Cottingham Stadium this season was the one time it did not at least play a team close for four quarters. Easton led just 14-6 at halftime but pulled away for a 47-27 win that gave it the first EPC South Division title.

The Red Rovers gashed the Patriots for over 400 rushing yards that night, with Shane Simpson and Dalvyn Reynolds doing most of the damage. Easton's pair of 1,000-yard rushers hurt Freedom by reaching the edge time after time.

"We missed a few tackles, which, hey, it's going to happen," Roeder said. "It's a matter of, we've got to execute better. If we're going to win, we've got to win a couple of more individual battles."

See more here:

Freedom High football team eager for its second crack at Easton