Sophomore Jerek Cooper shined in his first varsity start under center for Emmaus on Thursday night at East Penn School District Stadium accounting for a pair of touchdowns as the Hornets snapped a three-game losing skid with a 38-0 rout of Dieruff.
With nearly 100 players from the Lower Macungie Mustangs Football organization in attendance and starting quarterback Josiah Williams in street clothes on the sideline and unavailable, Cooper went out and engineered a number of scoring drives as Emmaus won for the first time at home in improving to 2-3 at the midway point of the season.
The Hornets dominated Dieruff on both sides of the ball, outgaining the Huskies 382-56 in total yards and forcing a pair of turnovers with juniors Daniel Duggan and Tyler Durette coming up with their first career interceptions. The shutout was the second for Emmaus, which had opened the season with a 41-0 blowout win at Pocono Mountain East.
Cooper was an efficient 10 for 15 through the air for a career-high 115 yards, throwing for one score and running for another.
Senior Riley Guiffre was the Hornets leading rusher finishing with a career-best 104 yards on the ground. He opened the scoring on the first possession of the night on an 18-yard run touchdown run that gave Emmaus a 7-0 lead with 6:12 left in the first quarter.
Senior running back Jasiyah Banks also had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the win of 15 and 12 yards on just five carries.
Defensively, senior Mario Landino led the way with five tackles, while classmate Ben Mercado and sophomore Brody McHugh, making his first start of the season, each had four stops.
Dieruff, which was coming off a 70-0 loss to Northampton last week, dropped to 0-5 on the season after being shutout for the second week in a row and for the third time this season.
Emmaus will be back home at next Friday at 7 p.m. as they host undefeated Bethlehem Catholic. The game will be carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:40 p.m.
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Emmaus 38, Dieruff 0
Die – 0-0-0-0 – 0
Em – 14-10-14 -0 – 38
Scoring:
Em – Riley Guiffre 18 yard run (Will Buck PAT), 7-0
Em – Jasiyah Banks 15 yard run (Buck PAT), 14-0
Em – Cael Kratzer 24 yard pass from Jerek Cooper (Buck PAT), 21-0
Em – Buck FG 33 yards, 24-0
Em – Cooper 17 yard run (Buck PAT), 31-0
Em – Banks 12 yard run (Buck PAT), 38-0
INDIVIDUAL – Emmaus
Rushing – Riley Guiffre 6-104, TD; Jasiyah Banks 5-56, 2 TD; Neo Michel 5-35, Jewlien Torres 5-30, Jerek Cooper 7-29, TD; Peter Sherman 2-9, Gavin Newhart 1 (-4)
Passing – Jerek Cooper 10 of 15, 115 yards, TD; Gavin Newhart 2-3, 13; Peter Sherman 0-0, 0.
Receiving – Cael Kratzer 3-54, TD; Rafael Terrero 2-23, John Wassel 2-21, Cole Moreau 2-19, Daniel Duggan 1-9, Jah’Khi Daves 1-3, Jasiyah Banks 1 (-2)
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Tom Ashelman)
