To see it happen once this season is one thing, but twice?
In less than a month?
Who could have predicted it?
Unfortunately, it’s the reality that head coach Harold Fairclough and his Emmaus squad are now dealt with.
A game that they probably thought they should have won in regulation, instead turning into yet another gut-wrenching loss in overtime.
And this one, hurts a little bit more.
With having already lost once in overtime in their season-opener at Neshaminy 20-17 back on August 23, the Hornets were in similar situation on Friday night at East Penn School District Stadium against Easton in a highly anticipated matchup of two teams who were both 3-1 and riding three-game win streaks.
For the second time in five weeks, Emmaus had a golden opportunity to win a game in the final seconds of regulation, but a potential game-winning field goal from arguably the league’s best kicker, Cornell-commit senior Will Buck, was no good sending the game into overtime.
In the extra session, Easton took advantage as running back Dorian Thomas scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, and the Red Rovers defense came up with a game-ending interception to seal the victory as they handed the Hornets their second loss of the season, 28-21 in overtime.
“We knew it was going to be a war,” said a somber Fairclough, sitting alone on his team’s bench pondering what might have been. “We talked about that through the whole game. We just had a hard time stopping the run. We shot ourselves in the foot. We had opportunities and took points off the board. You can’t do that.”
Not against a resurgent Easton team that won its fourth straight game after a season-opening loss to District One power Central Bucks West.
Emmaus, which had handled the Red Rovers the last two years winning 42-14 and 42-21 at Cottingham Stadium in Easton, dropped to 3-2 on the season.
Meanwhile, the Red Rovers improved to 4-1 and continued its mastery of winning at Emmaus as they picked up their third straight win against the Hornets since 2020.
This victory was also a little sweeter for the Red Rovers as they had to play much of the game without their head coach, Matt Senneca, who left in the second quarter due to a medical issue. Senneca was treated by medical personnel at the game and then transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital where he was later released.
The former Hornet assistant would have been proud of his team’s effort after his watching his squad go down 14-0 in the second quarter.
Easton scored 21 unanswered points in the middle quarters to take the lead on a pair of touchdown passes from junior Cole Ordway and a 2-yard touchdown run by senior Will Day and seemingly, had the game in control before Emmaus responded.
Facing a 4th-and-goal from the Red Rovers 6-yard line, junior quarterback Jerek Cooper found senior tight end Sam Stephan in the back of the end zone and Buck’s extra-point tied the game at 21-all with 3:54 left in the game.
Emmaus was then able to get the ball back at midfield with 1:59 left in the fourth quarter and were setting up for a potential game-winning field goal, but Buck, who was solid all night with his kickoffs into the end zone and booming punts of 70 and 55 yards, missed a 22-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining sending the game into overtime.
Of note, the Hornets also had a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Reilly Bechtel called back in overtime due to a penalty. Two plays later on 3rd-and-17, Cooper’s pass was then intercepted ending the game and the hopes an Emmaus victory.
Easton’s offense, most notably its running attack, was the story of the night as they rushed for over 300 yards and scored the most points this season against an Emmaus defense that was allowing just a little over 13 points per game.
Both Day (156 yards) and Thomas (132) ran for over 100 yards. Ordway was 10 of 16 for 110 yards through the air and senior wideout Jasir Frutchey led the Red Rovers with three receptions and 48 yards to go along with a score.
For Emmaus, Cooper accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns on runs of 74 and 1 yard and he also threw for another. Cooper was his team’s leading rusher finishing with a career-high 120 yards on just 12 carries but struggled through the air completing just 9 of 22 for 93 yards and two interceptions. Bechtel had 76 yards on the ground.
Defensively, junior Robert Edwards had a monster night for the Hornets with a career-high 14 tackles, including three tackles for a loss. Senior Daniel Duggan was next with seven tackles, followed closely by classmate Ben Dennis who had six and one sack.
Both teams were whistled for a number of penalties in the game — Emmaus 8 for 70 yards and Easton 7 for 63.
The Hornets will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown to take on Central Catholic at 7 p.m. The game will be aired LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.
“There’s still things we need to clean up,” said Fairclough. “I told them it’s going to be a long process to get where you want to in the end. We’re going to work and fix things. We don’t have a choice; we have a bigger game next week.”
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Easton 28, Emmaus 21 (OT)
Ea – 0-6-15-0-7 – 28
Em – 7-7-0-7-0 – 21
Scoring:
Em – Jerek Cooper 74-yard run (Will Buck PAT)
Em – Cooper 1 yard run (Buck PAT)
Ea – Will Day 2-yard run (PAT failed)
Ea – Day 11-yard pass from Cole Ordway (Noah Borluca PAT)
Ea – Jasir Frutchey 33-yard pass from Ordway (Mason Stout pass Ordway)
Em – Sam Stephan 6-yard pass from Cooper (Buck PAT)
Ea – Dorian Thomas 2-yard run (Borluca PAT)
Individual stats – Emmaus
Rushing – Jerek Cooper 12-120, TD; Reilly Bechtel 12-76, Jay Santos 1-4
Passing – Jerek Cooper 9 of 22, 93 yards, TD, 2 Int
Receiving – Sam Stephan 2-24, TD; Reilly Bechtel 2-21, Kai Jefferson-Rushing 1-15, Jah’Khi Daves 2-23, Cole Moreau 1-6, Ben Jones 1-4
PHOTO GALLERY – Courtesy of Tom Ashelman
