Credit: James Lynch Jr. | The News Herald

Freedom's James Caldwell (11) brings down Burns running back Tylan Ruff to preserve a Patriot third-round 3A state playoff win in Kings Mountain on Friday.

Perhaps never has the Freedom High alma mater been played so vigorously after a win or been drowned out by such raw on-field emotion.

Senior safety James Caldwell made the biggest tackle of his life on Friday, sending No. 4 seed Freedom to the NCHSAA state semifinals for the first time ever with a 19-18 overtime third-round playoff win over South Mountain 2A/3A Conference rival Burns at Kings Mountain High Schools John Gamble Stadium.

The victory was Freedoms eighth straight this year but first over Burns since 2000. The three-time defending SMAC champion Bulldogs had beaten the Patriots in each of the last four regular seasons, including a 31-21 home win on Sept. 21.

Its been a long journey, Patriot fourth-year coach Mike Helms said. This was a heck of a game. And Burns is a heck of a team. What more can you ask for from a game?

Im so proud of our team. We didnt quit even though we didnt play well offensively. We kept fighting. Hats off to our guys. We did what we needed to (in order) to win.

Freedom quarterback Shawn Fairchild ran for his second touchdown of the night on the third play of overtime, and senior first-year player Andrew Ayers tacked on the extra point. The two teams had combined to miss all three previous point-after kicks in addition to blocking two punts and a field goal during regulation.

I was just thinking to myself, put it up, Ayers said. This is a team that loves to block kicks. But I knew my line had my back.

On the ensuing possession of overtime, Burns quarterback Chris Montgomery faked a handoff on his teams first offensive play and ran 10 yards around left tackle to the end zone.

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Freedom gets payback versus Burns, sets school record with 12th win