District 11 6A Finals: Freedom vs. Nazareth

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#1 Nazareth Blue Eagles vs. #3 Freedom Patriots
Last Time: Nazareth 21-7 (week 3): Matt Bugbee threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns, with both Jaden Cabrera and Joe Capobianco going over 100 yards in a week three win. Freedom was dealt a blow during the week when starting QB Brian Taylor was declared ineligible on Wednesday, and Ethan Neidig was thrust into a starting role. The results weren't gerat, as Nazareth held Freedom scoreless until the final drive of the game.


Nazareth
Head Coach: Tom Falzone (8th year at Nazareth 43-33; 84-50 overall)
District Titles: 1988 (3A), 1989 (3A), 2011, 2019
District Finals: 1987, 2011, 2019

Offense
Nazareth graduated one of the best senior classes in school history and was expected to be in a rebuilding year. However, Tom Falzone’s offense has barely missed a beat, with senior quarterback Matt Bugbee (Sr. 6’4 205) taking over and having an all conference season, throwing for 1,338 yards and 10 TDs against just one pick in seven starts. Bugbee makes great decisions and gets the ball out quickly, with enough arm strength to keep defenses honest over the top. He’s also one of the best place kickers in the area and is getting looks as a place kicker in college. Jaiden Cabrera (Sr. 5’9 155) leads the EPC in catches with 39 in seven games for 579 yards. They’ve run the ball better than in years past, with Tyler Rohn (Jr. 5’10 200) going for 516 yards in his second year as a starter. The offensive line has been pretty well reconstructed, led by four year starter Cody Breidenbach (Sr. 6’4 300) at center. He’s getting recruited by Division I track and field programs as a thrower, but would be an FCS prospect at football too. They’re massive up front with Breidenbach, Matt Burton (Jr. 6’1 275), Levi LaRochell (Sr. 6’2 265), Braden Saylor (Sr. 6’2 230) and Sean Kinney (Fr. 6’1 295) Kinney at left tackle has all the makings of a high, high level FBS prospect on the offensive line and is one of the top upper weight wrestling prospects in the country (I think he was a 2x junior high state champ at heavyweight).

Defense
Just like on offense, Nazareth had a major rebuilding job on defense, with the graduation of All State defensive end Jake Wilson (Penn State) and safety Nate Stefanik (Princeton – wrestling), plus a slew of front 7 guys. But still, they’re giving up 10.7 points per game with a pair of shutouts and have been consistently solid on the defensive side of the ball. Safety Andrew Wells has really stepped up in his second year as a starter with five interceptions and a team high 48 tackles. LInebacker Joe Capobianco, Broc Bender, and Chase Levey have been a really solid unit and give them three versatile, almost safety hybrid players to defend the spread. Saylor and Breidenbach are both two-way linemen, with Saylor leading the Blue Eagles in sacks.

Freedom
Head Coach: Jason Roeder (16th year; 109-68)
District Titles: 2018
District Finals: 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018

Offense
Freedom’s offense took a major shift after week 2 when Brian Taylor was declared ineligible for not living in the Freedom portion of the Bethlehem School District. In stepped sophomore Ethan Neidig (So. 6’3 185), who had some growing pains in his first start against Nazareth, but has sharped over his last five starts. They Patriots are averaging 32.7 points per game, including rolling up 42 and 37 in their playoff wins over Pocono Mountain West and Easton. Neiding is 32-52 for 433 and 5 TDs and has leaned on an experienced group of upperclassmen receivers led by AJ Fletcher (Sr. 5’11 175). But the strength of Freedom’s offense is the running game, with a big, physical offensive line, anchored by FBS prospect Kaelin Moore (Jr. 6’4 275) at tackle. Matty Russin (Sr. 5’7 175) ran for over 800 yards as a junior change-of-pace back, and has been excellent this season when healthy, rushing for 477 yards on 84 carries. However, he was out last week against Easton with an undisclosed injury, though word is he will play tonight. His back up, junior Deante Crawford (Jr. 5’7 165), has run for 455 yards on 66 carries.

Defense
Freedom’s defense has been their calling card and they’re again one of the best in the Lehigh Valley. They’re giving up 9.6 points per game and have a pair of shutouts on the year. Moore has exceled as their nose guard in their 3-3-5 alignment and frees up room for the back 8 to fly around. Marcus Kreidler (Sr. 6’1 220) is having an all state caliber year at outside linebacker and Fletcher is one of the best corners in the Valley. They’re consistently one of the best programs in the EPC at forcing turnovers and have allowed some breathing room for their Neiding to settle in.


The Pick
It’s not a surprise that in the year of COVID, the two programs that have the best coaching, if not the best talent, are in the championship game. Roeder and Falzone have really separated themselves with the way they run their programs and both have really exceeded expecatations this year. Both teams are really good on the lines, and while not as explosive as in years past at the skill spots, make up for that with really good scheme and execution. Freedom has a couple more playmakers in the backfield with Russin and Crawford, and I and continuity at the quarterback position that they didn't have in week one. Freedom 21 Nazareth 17

 

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Nazareth throws a touchdown pass with 7 seconds left in the first half, then takes the opening kickoff back for a TD to start the second half and takes a 14-9 lead over Freedom.

 

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Freedom punts and Nazareth drives for a touchdown, capped by a five yard Tyler Rohn run (for my wrestling people, he’s NCAA champ Rob Rohn’s nephew and NCAA champ and legendary Northampton coach Don Rohn is his great uncle).

Nazareth now up 21-9 in a five minute burst of three touchdowns.

A Freedom trick play has Deonte Crawford throwing it back to a wide open Ethan Neidig for a 43 yard completion down to the two, then Crawford finished things with his second TD of the night. Cuts things to 21-16.

Nazareth’s ensuing drive stalls out, but Matt Bugbee drills a 40 yard field goal to go up 24-16.

Freedom marches right down the field and Crawford finds paydirt from 25 yards out, cutting it to a 24-22 game headed into the fourth quarter.

Nazareth answers with a TD drive and a Bugbee touchdown run. Blue Eagles in control of this one 31-22. After not being able to get anything going in the first half offensively, Falzone has really flipped the switch andNazareth can’t be stopped.

 

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Now 37-29 Nazareth, Freedom gets its first stop of the second half. Takes over at midfield down 8 with five and a half minutes to play.

 

[HSFB99]

Final?

 

[RoverNation05]

Freedom throws a desperation pick inside the Nazareth 20 on 4th and 11. Blue Eagles repeat as District 11 champs.

 

[HSFB99]

Congrats to Nazareth! Seems like Falcone is doing a bang-up job there. What say you Rover?

 

[RoverNation05]

Congrats to Nazareth! Seems like Falcone is doing a bang-up job there. What say you Rover?

I think Tom is really good and thought it was an awesome hire at the time. He took Catasaqua to state playoffs a couple times in his run there and was one of the first teams up here to go crazy throwing the ball. The offenses have continued to be great jumping up to big school football. a
And they’ve gotten so much better on defense the last two years, that’s the separator. The teams with Dotson could score, but couldn’t stop a nose bleed. The line play has also really improved since Scott Byrd joined the staff after leaving Easton. Outside of Mike Carey you wont find a better high school line coach than Byrd, and those kids have really developed up front. They've gotten so much better and so much more physical up front on both sides of the ball, and it’s jumped them a level.

I thought they’d take a big step back this year. They had a really good senior class and lost a ton of really good players at key spots - they had the league player of the year at quarterback, all state defensive end/left tackle, all state safety/wide receiver - and Nazareth is just a few dozen kids over being 5A, so it usually takes a few years to build back up after a great class graduates (see post 2011). And this team is not super talented. Their quarterback is probably a college kicker, Breidenbach could play in the Patriot League if not for track. No really good skill players to speak of. The exception to the rule is the freshman tackle, who is four years off, but if he’s either wrestling or playing football at Penn State I won’t be surprised. But going undefeated this year is 100% a great coaching job versus having a great team.

There is a ceiling at Nazareth because it’s not a big school with limited feeder programs and not a ton of football tradition, and I think Falzone has them about as good as they can be right now. Roeder has Freedom in a similar spot frankly - maximizing what you can be at that school right now.

 

[HSFB99]

To me, the mark of a great program is still being very competitive (or undefeated in this case) through the ebb and flow of talent. It’s quite an accomplishment for Falzone and his staff especially considering it was projected to be a down year. What’s his background Rover? Did he always play and coach in the area? I wonder if he’d take a look at some of the bigger schools in D11 if they open up.

 

[RoverNation05]

Falzone is Lehigh Valley through and through. He’s from Catasaqua, and played receiver on the teams that won three straight Colonial League titles (which they wouldn’t win again until he was their head coach). He played in college at Lafayette, so he played at a relatively high level, but locally. He is a teacher at Whitehall, which is where he was first hired as an assistant coach on Tony Cocca’s staff. I don’t remember if he went right from Whitehall to being Catty’s head coach or if he was an assistant at his alma mater before becoming a head coach. Went 47-18 and went to two state playoffs at Catty, which was the smallest school in the Colonial League. Went from there to Nazareth when Rob Melosky resigned.

From everything I understand, Nazareth is a pretty great place to work. Ray Ramella is the AD there and has cultivated a really good group of coaches who seem to like working for him and there seems to be a really good culture at that school. They punch above their weight pretty much across the board athletically. And it helps having Dave Crowell as kind of a staff leader - he’s in the conversation for greatest HS wrestling coach of all time and is just a saint of a guy, who know has a hand in mentoring young coaches.

As a side note, Lafayette has a really good set of HS coaches right now. Falzone at Nazareth, Tim Moncman at Parkland, Ryan Nase at Cheltenham. Not sure how Leo Plenski is going at Tennant, but he was off to a great start at Bristol. Hell, Chris Partridge turned Paramus Catholic into a damn national power before moving on to Michigan and now Ole Miss.