Freedom finding its identity heading into final

Patriots will face Parkland for title after dispatching Allentown Central Catholic 3-1 in semifinals

“They are who we thought they were.”

The late NFL coach Dennis Green, then with the Arizona Cardinals, spoke those words of the Chicago Bears in a famous rant from 15 years ago.

Freedom soccer coach Matthew Reightler said something similar, though not out of anger, after his No. 3 seed Patriots whipped second-seeded Central Catholic, 3-1, in Wednesday night’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals at Whitehall’s Zephyr Stadium.

“We are who we thought we’d be at the beginning of the season,” Reightler said. “And this is when it really counts.”

Freedom, which will play No. 1 seed Parkland in Saturday’s EPC final at a site and time to be determined, is indeed on fire and came out on fire against Central Catholic. The East Division champions are 17-3 overall with 12 straight wins.

The Patriots hit a post and a crossbar in the opening 10 minutes of play as they put continuous pressure on the Vikings’ backline.

Eventually, with 21:31 left in the first half, senior Stephen Callaghan scored his fourth of the season on a header off a pass from classmate Sebastain Garces. Garces’ assist was his 30th of the season.

Peter Tichy, who moved from the midfield to forward around midseason, made his presence felt with two goals in the final 18 minutes of the half. His first came on a penalty kick and his second came off a fine pass from Alexander Roberts.

Tichy’s goals were his 27th and 28th this season. He was a starter on defense as a sophomore and junior.

“We lost to them at the beginning of the year so this was kind of revenge,”

Tichy said of Freedom’s 3-1 loss to Central Catholic on Sept. 13. “We came out strong and showed the beginning of the season was a fluke. “We were really coming at them early, we put the pedal to the floor. We showed them who we are. Now we’re playing in the finals.”

Reightler said the Patriots’ offense is their best defense. Freedom entered with 80 goals in 19 games.

“We wanted to come out with lots more intensity [than the first meeting],” Reightler said, “and I think we did. We probably should’ve scored about 30 seconds into the game but unfortunately, we hit the post. We want to get those goals in the net as quickly as possible and put pressure on our opponents.”

Central Catholic, which now owns a 14-3-2 record, scored its lone goal with 28:53 remaining. Senior Owen Wandalowski found the net off a feed from Pearce Wagner.

The Vikings prepare for next week’s District 11 Class 2A tournament.

“Their pressure didn’t allow us to get into our flow,” Central Catholic coach

Taylor Holko said. “We really didn’t get a chance to play our game. We wanted to possess, we wanted to swing the ball. That didn’t happen. Anytime we tried to, we just didn’t have the quality to do it. They were hungrier, they wanted any 50-50 ball.

“Now we just regroup. That’s the fortunate thing about this tournament, we get another go at it.”

Freedom, one the other hand, gets another go at Parkland with gold medals at stake.

The Trojans defeated the Patriots 2-1 in overtime on Sept. 25. That was Freedom’s last loss and the last time Tichy played as a midfielder.

“We’re looking to carry this into the final and into districts,” Tichy said. “We’re all clicking as a team. We’re very confident. No matter who we play, we know we can win.”

“Honestly, we’re not thinking about who the opponent is,” Reightler said prior to the end of the Parkland-Emmaus semifinal. “We’d be content with either of them at this point. We’re just doing our thing, we’re happy with our play.” EPC semifinal No. 2

Parkland 1, Emmaus 0 OT: Senior Zachary Morales scored the game’s only goal, a golden goal, in the first overtime period. The top-seeded Trojans defeated Emmaus for the second time in eight days after the two archrivals tied in the first meeting.

Parkland improved to 17-1-1 and is unbeaten since a season-opening 1-0 loss to Central Catholic.

EPC BOYS SOCCER SEMIFINAL FREEDOM 3, CENTRAL CATHOLIC 1 Freedom 3 0 — 3 Central 0 1 — 1

Freedom: Goals: Peter Tichy 2, Stephen Callaghan. Assists: Sebastian Garces, Alexander Roberts. SOG: 8. Corners: 5. Saves: Tristan Willey 2.

Central: Goal: Owen Wandalowski. Assist: Pearce Wagner. SOG: 3. Corners: 3. Saves: Ryan Yen 5.