Winning football games – on any level – often comes down to the play of the guys who don’t get the headlines.
The guys up front.
They’re the unsung heroes, almost always overshadowed by the skilled players.
If you were in attendance at Emmaus’ annual “Battle of Cedar Crest Boulevard” rivalry game with Parkland on Friday night, you couldn’t help by notice the play of the Hornets line — on both sides of the ball.
To say it was good, would not do justice.
To say it was outstanding, would be more accurate
It was that impressive and it didn’t go unnoticed – by anyone.
Playing in their final regular-season home game on Senior Night with a championship and District XI playoff implications on the line, the Hornets put together their best performance of the season to date, and arguably their most impressive, as they throttled their archrivals, stunning the Trojans 27-0 before a near-capacity crowd at East Penn School District Stadium.
Emmaus won its fifth straight game as they closed the regular season with an 8-2 mark. For their efforts, they also had some hardware presented to them by the end of the night as they were awarded the Lehigh County Division Championship along with ‘The Battle of Cedar Crest Boulevard Cup.’
“The message to the players this week was nothing different than it had been for the last six weeks,” said an ecstatic Harold Fairclough, who picked up his 80th career win at Emmaus tying him with former coach Joe Bottiglieri for second all-time at the school. “We weren’t going to ask them to do anything different because we were doing things at a high level.
“Since the week of the Easton game (a 28-21 overtime loss), practice has been really good, and the kids have been locked in and they’ve done everything we ask them to do. We weren’t going to change anything, but we were going to ask them to do a little bit more with their film preparation so that they were ready because what was at stake tonight.”
“They bought in and came out fired up and made plays in all three phases of the game.”
There’s no questioning that.
Defensively, Emmaus posted its second shutout in the last three weeks and held a Parkland offense that was averaging 40 points per game and almost 350 yards of total offense, off the scoreboard and just 120 total yards (95 pass/25 rush) in the game. The Hornets also forced three turnovers in the game, one of which junior Cole Moreau returned 35 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the third quarter giving Emmaus a commanding 17-0 lead.
Moreau was just one of a number of players who shined for defensive coordinator Jake Hildebrand’s unit: Up front, the play of juniors Robert Edwards and Brody McHugh along with senior Ben Dennis; linebackers seniors Reilly Bechtel, Sam Stephan, Neo Michel and Chase Whitesell; and in the secondary, seniors Daniel Duggan, Zach Stephens and Jah’Khi Daves.
On offense, Emmaus scored all their points in the first and third quarters. Their 27 points were the second most that Parkland had given up all season.
Bechtel eclipsed the 1,000-career rushing mark with his 99 yards on the ground, which included his team-leading 15th touchdown of the season on a 6-yard run to close out the scoring and extend his team’s lead to 27-0 in the third quarter.
Junior quarterback Jerek Cooper ran for 51 yards, which included a 23-yard TD run in the first quarter.
Both had their O-Line to thank: senior Connor Soos, juniors McHugh, Edwards and junior Joey Glover and sophomore Mason Weber.
Senior Will Buck also booted a pair of field goals in the game from 35 and 26 yards.
Parkland, which hasn’t won at Emmaus since 2014, saw its seven-game win streak snapped as they dropped to 8-2 on the season.
Prior to the game, Emmaus honored its 19 seniors — Daniel Duggan, Aiden Lavoie, Hunter Beitler, Zach Stephens, Jah’Khi Daves, Theodore Garvin, Jewlien Torres, Rafael Terrero, Ben Jones, Neo Michel, Tyler Durette, Sam Stephan, Lateef McCloud, Chase Whitesell, Reilly Bechtel, Connor Soos, AJ Puliatte, Ben Dennis and Will Buck.
Up next for Emmaus will be the District XI Class 6A Tournament. The Hornets will be the No. 4 seed and host fifth-seeded Nazareth at 7 p.m. on Friday at East Penn School District Stadium. The game will be carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the pre-game show. The Hornets will be appearing in districts for the ninth straight season.
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Emmaus 27, Parkland 0
Park – 0-0-0-0 – 0
Em – 10-0-17-0 – 27
Scoring:
Em – Will Buck FG 35 yards
Em – Jerek Cooper 23-yard run (Buck PAT)
Em – Cole Moreau 35-yard INT (Buck PAT)
Em – Buck FG 26 yards
Em – Reilly Bechtel 6-yard run (Buck PAT)
Individual stats – Emmaus
Rushing – Reilly Bechtel 13-99, TD; Jerek Cooper 11-51, TD; Neo Michel 7-29, Jay Santos 5-19
Pasing – Jerek Cooper 1 of 5, 48 yards, 1 Int.
Receiving – Daniel Duggan 1-48
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Tom Ashelman)
