Stats don’t always tell you the story of a football game.
Such was the case for Emmaus in their all-important Week 6 matchup vs Central Catholic at J. Birney Crum Stadium last Thursday.
The Hornets dominated in total yards 340-202, outgaining the Vikings on the ground (141-117) and through the air (199-85).
Despite that, Emmaus still came up on the short end of the scoreboard as they suffered a key loss to start the second half of their season.
Former Hornet Janiel Pena threw a pair of touchdown passes, including the game-winner with a little over two minutes left in regulation as Central Catholic rallied for a dramatic 17-14 victory.
Pena, who came over to Central Catholic during the off-season, hooked up with junior wideout Greyson Schmell on a 4th-and-11 from the Emmaus 25-yard line as the Vikes and former Hornets assistant coach Jake Reichard celebrated the win.
Emmaus, which had been shutout in the first half, had a rally of their own after halftime as senior Anthony Attar scored the first of his two touchdowns on an 8-yard run to get the Hornets within 10-7 in the third quarter.
Attar and Emmaus then took advantage of a short field (ball at the CCHS 39) as he scored his second TD of the night from 17 yards out giving the Hornets their first lead at 14-10 with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter.
But the Vikes were able to rally for the game-winning score, as they also took advantage of a short field which came courtesy of an Emmaus unsportsmanlike penalty on their touchdown and a big return from Harry Restino down to the Hornets 25 yard line.
Emmaus had one last chance on their final possession of the night, but the Hornets turned the ball over on downs as they suffered their second loss in as many years to the Vikings.
Central Catholic, coming off an emotional one-point road win (14-13) at Easton last week, won their third straight game to improve to 4-2, while the Hornets dropped to 2-4 following their second straight defeat. Emmaus also remained on the road this season (0-3).
In the defeat, junior quarterback Kellen Hafner had the best game of his high school career completing 17 of 24 passes for 199 yards. Attar rushed for a career-best 123 yards and senior Mason Lenig had a career-high seven receptions for 74 yards.
Pena was 6 of 13 for 109 yards and two touchdowns, both to Schmell. Johnson had 125 yards on the ground on 25 carries. Schmell, who also had a touchdown earlier in the game, was also CCHS’s leading tackler with seven on the night. Tahir Edmondson had six and Nate Young five for the Vikes.
Defensively, senior Tyler Carmosky led Emmaus with six tackles. Junior Nik Castro was next with five and junior Jerel Robinson, seniors Mason Lenig, Shane Leyden and Jamaad Sanders each had four.
Emmaus will return home Friday to host Whitehall at 7 p.m. on Homecoming. The game will be carried LIVE on the Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.
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CC 17, Emmaus 14
Em – 0-0-7-7 – 14
CC – 0-10-0-7 – 17
CC – Baker FG 27 yards
CC – Schmell 16 pass from Pena (Baker PAT)
Em – Attar 8-yard run (Marmaros PAT)
Em – Attar 17-yard run (Marmaros PAT)
CC – Schmell 25 pass from Pena (Baker PAT)
Individual stats – Emmaus
Rushing – Anthony Attar 11-123, 2 TD; Jay Santos 8-27, Manolo Bermudez 2-2, Kellen Hafner 3 (-7)
Passing – Kellen Hafner 17 of 24, 199 yards
Receiving – Mason Lenig 7-74, AJ Kaintz 4-47, Legend Vasquez 3-66, Jamaad Sanders 1-8, Nik Castro 1-6, Will Daves 1 (-5)
PHOTO GALLERY – Courtesy of Tom Ashelman
#4 Anthony Attar
#9 Mason Lenig
#20 Naquan Thomason
#22 Jay Santos