Last Time They Met: Easton shut out Freedom in the subregional semifinal to advance to the D11 final. Shane Simpson starred, rushing for 206 yards and two touchdowns and opening the second half with a 79 yard kickoff return for a TD. Dalvyn Reyolds chipped in 81 yards and a score and Easton's defense forced five turnovers and held Freedom to 167 yards of offense.
The Series: Easton has won the last eight meetings between the schools and is 36-7-2 all time against Freedom.
Easton Leaders
Passing: Trey Durrah: 47-94, 609 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs
Rushing: Nysir Minney-Gratz: 142 carries, 1,140 yards, 18 TDs
Receiving: Trey Bailey: 17 catches, 250 yards, 4 TDs
Freedom Leaders
Passing: Joe Young: 55-98, 833 yards, 5 TDs, 4 INTs
Rushing: Andres Santos: 82 carries, 336 yards, 9 TDs
Receiving Alkhion Dunkins: 16 catches, 280 yards, 1 TD
Freedom Offense: Freedom showed little punch offensively last week against a physical Parkland defense and without quarterback Joe Young. Young did warm up prior to the game in a knee brace, but the Patriots gave Jonah Gundrum the start. Gundrum is a senior two-way starter at wide receiver and safety and is one of the better perimter weapons for the Patriots. He’s a running threat at QB and Freedom went heavy zone-read last week with Gundrum and running back Andres Santos. HOwver, Gundrum cannot throw the ball like Young, and Freedom is down a receiver without him. If Young starts, expect Freedom to initiate a short passing game early to try and spread Easton out and keep their defensive line away from digging their heels in. Freedom has a size advantage up front against Easton, but the Rovers have a clear speed advantage, so when they do run the ball, it’ll make more sense to go right at Easton.
Easton Defense: Easton is built to defend the spread. The Rovers have played a lot of 4-2-5 this year where they can generate pressure with just their front four and let the back seven drop into coverage and defend the four and five receiver sets that have become so common in high school football. Defensive tackle Craig Stahlecker has been the lynchpin, and he’ll need to create pressure up the middle to blow up the Freedom run game designed to attack the edges. Unlike Parkland or Liberty, Freedom doesn’t have a real match up problem at receiver and Easton’s secondary should be primed for a big night.
Easton Offense: Easton got back to basics last week, using Nysir Minney-Gratz on outside runs and play action passes to the tight end over the middle to roll up almost 500 yards of offense on Liberty. Minney-Gratz is a threat to score everytime he touches it due to his breakaway speed, but I’ve been particularly impressed with his patience to let his blocking develop and his Emmitt Smith like ability to seemingly never get hit clean despite his diminutive frame. Even on plays that don’t work, he seems to find a crack and fall forward rather than get swallowed up at the line. The passing game isn’t as far along as I thought it would be this season, but they had a ton of success last week with action off of the sweep to Minney-Gratz. Easton tight ends have made their hay running right down the middle of the field on play-fakes since Dan Gelbert in the ‘50s, and it was good to see them get back to that wrinkle in their passing game.
Freedom Defense: Freedom’s defense thrives on creating turnovers. The Patriots are plus ten in turnover margin this year and lead the EPC in interceptions. Easton has been lax with the football, particularly in the passing game, and that’s exactly how you can keep Freedom in a football game. In terms of personnel, it starts up front with Cordell Cotto. After watching Easton-Parkland, the Trojan’s size on the defensive line gave Easton big problems in the running game. Freedom has similar kind of size, and Cotto is every bit the athlete as Noel Brouse. Brady Hornbaker also leads the EPC South in tackles at middle linebacker, and is a 230 pound thumper specifically designed to shut down an offense like Easton’s. Of course, in their first real challege, Freedom gave up 218 yards rushing to Parkland last week, a team that has had nowhere near the success on the ground as Easton.
Special Teams: Freedom’s special teams blew up last week, getting a punt blocked and failing to secure a snap on a second punt led to 10 Parkland points and got the game away from them in the first half. The Rovers are down to their backup place kicker, 5’4 120 pound sophomore Diego Santiago, but he has held his own on kick offs and is a perfect 2-2 on field goals. And Easton is the most dangerous team in the area in the return game, evidence by their fifth kick/punt return for a TD of the year last week.
Freedom Wins If: They get Easton to cough up the football, slow down the Easton rushing attack, and find a way to consistently attack the Easton defense through the air.
Easton Wins If: Their defensive line beats Freedom’s offensive line off the ball and they create havoc in the backfield, they are able to run the ball and get some big plays out of their home run hitters.
The Pick: Like last week, how I feel about this game is very tied to whether Joe Young plays or not. If he can go, Freedom is the more talented team and has a difference maker QB. If he can’t, it makes Freedom awfully one dimensional and Easton generally swallows teams like that up. I think I’ll split the difference somewhere and Freedom keeps their hopes alive for an EPC South split.Freedom 28-17.
The Series: Easton has won the last eight meetings between the schools and is 36-7-2 all time against Freedom.
Easton Leaders
Passing: Trey Durrah: 47-94, 609 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs
Rushing: Nysir Minney-Gratz: 142 carries, 1,140 yards, 18 TDs
Receiving: Trey Bailey: 17 catches, 250 yards, 4 TDs
Freedom Leaders
Passing: Joe Young: 55-98, 833 yards, 5 TDs, 4 INTs
Rushing: Andres Santos: 82 carries, 336 yards, 9 TDs
Receiving Alkhion Dunkins: 16 catches, 280 yards, 1 TD
Freedom Offense: Freedom showed little punch offensively last week against a physical Parkland defense and without quarterback Joe Young. Young did warm up prior to the game in a knee brace, but the Patriots gave Jonah Gundrum the start. Gundrum is a senior two-way starter at wide receiver and safety and is one of the better perimter weapons for the Patriots. He’s a running threat at QB and Freedom went heavy zone-read last week with Gundrum and running back Andres Santos. HOwver, Gundrum cannot throw the ball like Young, and Freedom is down a receiver without him. If Young starts, expect Freedom to initiate a short passing game early to try and spread Easton out and keep their defensive line away from digging their heels in. Freedom has a size advantage up front against Easton, but the Rovers have a clear speed advantage, so when they do run the ball, it’ll make more sense to go right at Easton.
Easton Defense: Easton is built to defend the spread. The Rovers have played a lot of 4-2-5 this year where they can generate pressure with just their front four and let the back seven drop into coverage and defend the four and five receiver sets that have become so common in high school football. Defensive tackle Craig Stahlecker has been the lynchpin, and he’ll need to create pressure up the middle to blow up the Freedom run game designed to attack the edges. Unlike Parkland or Liberty, Freedom doesn’t have a real match up problem at receiver and Easton’s secondary should be primed for a big night.
Easton Offense: Easton got back to basics last week, using Nysir Minney-Gratz on outside runs and play action passes to the tight end over the middle to roll up almost 500 yards of offense on Liberty. Minney-Gratz is a threat to score everytime he touches it due to his breakaway speed, but I’ve been particularly impressed with his patience to let his blocking develop and his Emmitt Smith like ability to seemingly never get hit clean despite his diminutive frame. Even on plays that don’t work, he seems to find a crack and fall forward rather than get swallowed up at the line. The passing game isn’t as far along as I thought it would be this season, but they had a ton of success last week with action off of the sweep to Minney-Gratz. Easton tight ends have made their hay running right down the middle of the field on play-fakes since Dan Gelbert in the ‘50s, and it was good to see them get back to that wrinkle in their passing game.
Freedom Defense: Freedom’s defense thrives on creating turnovers. The Patriots are plus ten in turnover margin this year and lead the EPC in interceptions. Easton has been lax with the football, particularly in the passing game, and that’s exactly how you can keep Freedom in a football game. In terms of personnel, it starts up front with Cordell Cotto. After watching Easton-Parkland, the Trojan’s size on the defensive line gave Easton big problems in the running game. Freedom has similar kind of size, and Cotto is every bit the athlete as Noel Brouse. Brady Hornbaker also leads the EPC South in tackles at middle linebacker, and is a 230 pound thumper specifically designed to shut down an offense like Easton’s. Of course, in their first real challege, Freedom gave up 218 yards rushing to Parkland last week, a team that has had nowhere near the success on the ground as Easton.
Special Teams: Freedom’s special teams blew up last week, getting a punt blocked and failing to secure a snap on a second punt led to 10 Parkland points and got the game away from them in the first half. The Rovers are down to their backup place kicker, 5’4 120 pound sophomore Diego Santiago, but he has held his own on kick offs and is a perfect 2-2 on field goals. And Easton is the most dangerous team in the area in the return game, evidence by their fifth kick/punt return for a TD of the year last week.
Freedom Wins If: They get Easton to cough up the football, slow down the Easton rushing attack, and find a way to consistently attack the Easton defense through the air.
Easton Wins If: Their defensive line beats Freedom’s offensive line off the ball and they create havoc in the backfield, they are able to run the ball and get some big plays out of their home run hitters.
The Pick: Like last week, how I feel about this game is very tied to whether Joe Young plays or not. If he can go, Freedom is the more talented team and has a difference maker QB. If he can’t, it makes Freedom awfully one dimensional and Easton generally swallows teams like that up. I think I’ll split the difference somewhere and Freedom keeps their hopes alive for an EPC South split.Freedom 28-17.
