Heading into last night’s matchup on the road against a much-improved Stroudsburg team, Emmaus head coach Harold Fairclough warned his players that they couldn’t overlook a Mountaineers squad who he called ‘the best Stroudsburg team we’ve faced since I’ve been here.’
Make no mistake about it — the Hornets didn’t.
Instead, they went out and took care of business.
Behind a career-high three touchdowns and 146 yards on the ground from senior Reilly Bechtel, Emmaus scored early and often, jumping out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter and never looking back in a 42-7 rout.
The win was the third straight for the Hornets who improved to 3-1 on the season. It also marked the third time in the last four years that Emmaus has dominated Stroudsburg, winning 51-14 in 2022 and 51-0 in 2021.
“I’m a little surprised (by the margin),” said Fairclough, Emmaus’ ninth-year coach following the game. “I thought this was the best Stroudsburg team we’ve faced in my time at Emmaus. They have a lot of skill guys all over the place and they made some plays, but they also missed a bunch. We were a couple plays away from that being a closer score than it was.”
“There were also some things we need to clean up,” he added. “We had a little bit of a lull in the second quarter with penalties, but it’s always nice not play our best and still come out with the win.
Despite maybe not playing its best, the Hornets still made it look easy building a 35-7 lead at the half and enforcing the mercy rule early in the third quarter.
Bechtel, the team’s leading rusher, carried the ball just 10 times in the game and scored all three of his touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 42, 37 and 22 yards.
Both Bechtel and Fairclough credited the play of the offensive line — juniors Joey Glover, Robert Edwards and Brody McHugh, along with senior Connor Soos and sophomore Mason Weber — for opening huge holes for the ground attack that ran for nearly 200 yards in the game.
“The line was really getting after it tonight,” said Bechtel. “We have some young guys up front that have really been putting in the work and the blocking was amazing opening up some huge holes for our running backs.”
Added Fairclough: “I think our offensive line did a nice job giving (quarterback Jerek) Cooper some time and making some holes for our backs.”
Junior Cole Moreau made his first career varsity pass one to remember as he hooked up with senior wideout Ben Jones on a nifty 42-yard scoring strike to give Emmaus a 28-0 lead. Sophomore Jay Santos added a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter extending the lead to 35-0.
The only scoring in the second half came on Emmaus’ opening possession of the third quarter on senior Neo Michel’s 2-yard run, his third touchdown of the season.
Defensively, the Hornets allowed just one touchdown for the second game in a row, and they also forced a season-high three turnovers. Edwards led the team with six tackles (3 TFL/1 sack), while Michel and Ben Dennis were next with four stops. Michel and Sophomore Jamaad Sanders each had an interception in the game.
Stroudsburg was able to avoid the shutout with senior Kamari Coleman’s 90-yard touchdown run on a fake punt in the second quarter. The Mounties managed just 206 yards of total offense (113 pass/93 rush) and turned the ball over three times as they dropped to 2-2 on the season.
Emmaus will return home on Friday as they host Easton in a matchup of 3-1 teams. The game will be aired LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.
For the most complete coverage of Emmaus sports, follow on ‘X’ and like Emmaus sports on facebook.
Emmaus 42, Stroudsburg 7
Em – 21-14-7-0 – 42
Sb – 0-7-0-0 – 7
Scoring:
Em – Reilly Bechtel 42 run (Will Buck PAT)
Em – Bechtel 37 run (Buck PAT)
Em – Bechtel 22 run (Buck PAT)
Em – Ben Jones 42 pass from Cole Moreau (Buck PAT)
Em – Jay Santos 1 run (Buck PAT)
Sb – Kamari Coleman 90 run (Gabe Ferguson PAT)
Em – Neo Michel 2 run (Buck PAT)
Individual stats – Emmaus
Rushing – Reilly Bechtel 10-146-3, Jerek Cooper 2-31, Jewlien Torres 5-12, Jay Santos 3-9 TD, Daniel Duggan 1-3, Neo Michel 1-2, TD; Peter Sherman 2 (-1)
Passing – Jerek Cooper 6-11, 133 yards, 1 Int., Cole Moreau 1-1, 42 yards, TD; Peter Sherman 0-1
Receiving – Ben Jones 3-54, TD; Daniel Duggan 3-48
PHOTO GALLERY – Courtesy of Tom Ashelman
