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After a shaky start, Emmaus regroups and dominates Easton

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| October 7, 2023

Easton- In a matchup of two .500 teams in the EPC, Emmaus was quick to prove who was the better team after an early hiccup.  After each team’s defense forced opening possession punts, the Red Rover defense capitalized off an errant pass by Emmaus QB Josiah Williams with Logan Braido intercepting the pass and turning it into a pick-6 for the opening score of the game. The point after was no good and Easton had an early 6-0 lead at home in Cottingham Stadium.

That would be the last points Easton would see added to their side of the scoreboard until late in to the 2nd half.  On the ensuing drive by Emmaus, QB Josiah Williams(10-18, 173 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT) regrouped and lead a long march down the field with numerous rushes of his own and then had the drive capped off by a 1 yard Touchdown run by Green Hornet running back Jasiyah Banks( 6 rushes, 17 yards, 3 TD).  This extra point would be good and Emmaus would grab the lead.  After forcing a punt by Easton on their next drive, the Emmaus defense led by lineman Mario Landio handed the ball back to their offense.  Williams wasted no time finding WR Benjamin Jones(1 rec, 41 yds) down the sideline on the first play of the drive who was forced out of bounds at the Easton 2 yardline.  Three plays later and Emmaus RB Jasiyah Banks once again found paydirt with the help of his offensive line opening up huge holes for him to run through.  The PAT was good and Emmaus took a 14-6 lead with 2:42 left in the first half.

Easton would receive the kickoff and with the help of a roughing the kicker and 2 iffy defensive pass interference calls would move in to scoring range as time was quickly running out in the first half.  However, a penalty of their own would end up stifling this drive and Easton would end up turning the ball over on downs.  Josiah Williams took a knee for Emmaus and the teams went to the locker rooms for halftime with the score Easton 6 and Emmaus 14.

After a lengthy half-time thanks to senior band-member night,(there seemed to be over 50 members being recognized) the teams took the field for quick 2nd half warm-ups and Easton quickly went 3 and out.  After going 3 and out themselves on their next drive, Emmaus’ Rafael Terrero took advantage of a errant throw by Easton QB Cole Ordway which set the Hornet’s offense up at the Easton 21 yardline.  Two plays later, Emmaus QB Josiah Williams would find  M. John Wassel for another touchdown and extend the lead to 21-6 with 8:19 left in the 3rd quarter.

After another dominant series from the Green Hornet defense,  Emmaus proceeded to drive right down the field and capped off a scoring drive with a third rushing touchdown, this one from 11 yards out, from Jasiyah Banks.  This brought the score to 28-6 in favor of the visiting Emmaus Green Hornets and the route was seemingly on.

The next offensive series for the Red Rovers was more of the same.  A suffocating Emmaus defense forced another three and out and got the ball back to their offense.  It only took a single play for Emmaus to find the endzone on their next drive.  From just inside their own territory, the Hornet’s Josiah Williams found Cael Kratzer(4 rec, 91 yds, 1 TD)  in the flat, and thanks to a great block by WR Benjamin Jones, Kratzer was able to take it to the house for a 51 yard touchdown strike with 1:35 left in the 3rd quarter.

The next possession by both teams resulted in 3 and outs.  Then, thanks in part to a less-than-stellar punt by Emmaus, Easton was given a short field to work with on offense and sophomore Red Rover QB Cole Ordway(14-30, 90 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT) was able to find WR Jasir Frutchey(3 rec, 45 yds, 1 TD) in the corner of the endzone to bring the score to 35-14 in favor of the visiting Hornets after a successful 2 point conversion scored by Ordway with just under 11 minutes left in the game.

The ensuing Emmaus drive ended in points once again as Josiah Williams( 12 rush, 58 yds, 1 TD) took matters in to his own hands and scored from 5 yards out to put the visiting Green Hornets up 42-14 with 7:59 left in the game and end the scoring for both teams for the evening.

After the game I was able to catch up with Emmaus head coach Harold Fairclough who when asked about the offense said ” We’re just trying to get anything going, we’ve been sputtering the past couple of weeks trying to get something going in the run game. Guys were able to make some plays, some explosive plays in the pass game which was good to see. Definitely some things to clean up but we felt pretty good offensively.” Then when asked about the difficulty of recovering from an early pick 6 and getting his quarterback back in the game he said “Just, just settle in, relax, we’re gonna need you to step up and keep playing and keep making plays for us and he was able to settle down and make some great reads, great throws, so I’m happy for him”.

After having a chance to speak with their head coach, I was able to track down Jasiyah Banks who when asked about his impressive 3 touchdown evening said “It was amazing, ya know I had my line blocking for me, couldn’t get it done without those guys. Honestly it just feels good to get another win under our belt, you know we harp on going 1-0 every week and I’m proud we were able to do that.”

Lastly I found quarterback Josiah Williams who when asked about rebounding from his struggles to start the game said “I think the biggest thing is the confidence that everybody has in me, the players on the team, the coaches, they all do a great job.  Patting me on the back when I need it, like come on get the next one. Our o-line is great, our running backs have done a great job, our receivers are tough, its all thanks to them, there really is no team without all of them.”

With this victory, Emmaus(4-3) will head home looking forward to a home matchup next Friday  vs Bethlehem Liberty (2-5) who is fresh off a close loss to Allentown Central Catholic this evening 20-23.

With this loss, Easton (3-4) will head to Bethlehem Freedom (2-4) next week who still awaits Bethlehem Catholic this weekend.

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