Last Second Desperation Pass Lifts Emmaus To Win.
Tagged under: District 11, News
Brian Ptashinski | September 3, 2018
The scoreboard says Emmaus won, but it doesn’t tell the story
NAZARETH,PA- Facing a fourth down situation from the Nazareth 8 yard line and just seconds left on the clock. Emmaus’ quarterback Ethan Parvel did all he could to avoid the pass rush of the Nazareth defense, who swarmed the eleusive QB, as Parvel was going to the ground, he flipped the in the back of the end zoneIzaiah McPherson was standing all alone, the ball travelled to his left, where McPherson made a diving snag to pull his team to within a 42-41 score with nine seconds remaining in the contest.
Green Hornet coach Harold Fairclough, decided to go for two and the win instead of the PAT and a possible overtime scenario. On the conversion, Lubens Myers cashed in over the left side of the line of scrimmage giving the visitors a remarkable 43-42 win Friday night in front of a packed house at Andrew Leh Stadium,
Here is whole sequence…. pic.twitter.com/YDMwiX9SW3
— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) September 1, 2018
The game started with a bang as Meyers took the opening kickoff 94 yards and a 6-0 lead for Emmaus as PAT was no good. Nazareth answered right back on their opening drive as Blue Eagle Junior quarterback Anthony Harris connected with Nathan Stefanik for a 40 yard score to give the home team a 7-6 lead with PAT with 7:20 left in the first quarter.
Stefanik earned his second touchdown of the night on 1 yard sweep with 10:48 till half. The Blue Eagles were up 14-6. Stefanik also had a 33 yard pass completion to Andrew Stapert setting his team up at the Emmaus 13 on the drive.
Nazareth was able to extend the lead to 21-6 with 3:51 left in the second quarter. Facing a third and 15 from the Emmaus 17 Harris hit Tommy Manos with a fastball to complete the drive.
Emmaus was not to be deterred however, WR Dante Castro was on a receiving end of a Parvel pass on a slant pattern near the goal line from 15 yards out completing a 65 yard drive with 27 seconds left before half making the score 21-13 at intermission.
Emmaus tied the score at 21 as Parvel, a Whitehall transfer, scampered in from 29 yards out. Parvel also converted on the two point conversion with 9:46 left in the third stanza.
Midway through the quarter, Nazareth found themselves facing a third and 15 from the Green Hornet 21. Harris lobbed a pass in the left corner of the end zone the ball was almost picked by Lovett, but dropped out of his hands and instead Stapert caught it while on his back giving the home team a 28-21 lead.
Parvel connected with John Ferris on a 24 yard scoring play with 2:50 left in the quarter. The drive was aided by a defensive holding call on Nazareth on a third down, giving the visitors life and a new set of downs
Emmaus grabbed their first lead since the opening kickoff as Meyers scored from 9 yards with 9 seconds left in the third making the score 35-28.
The Blue Eagles had an answer for the Emmaus score when Kyle Paccio took a pitch from Harris on the Green Hornet 2 and outran the defense for a Blue Eagle score completing a 64 yard drive making the score 35-35 with 8:11 left in the game.
The defense finally stepped up as Nazareth’s Paccio picked off an errant Parvel pass at the Blue Eagles 38 and was brought cown at the Emmaus 13. Marinos then took it from 13 yards out with 5:08 left in the contest making the score 42-35.
That setup the final drive that was the climax of the game. The last play was not without controversy as questions of Parvel eith being down by contact or if he crossed the line of scrimmage before making the pass.
“The play just broke down in front of me, I saw Izaiah in front of me as I was going down. I just threw it towrds him, I knew I wasn’t down it was good completion, it was fair all the way around.” An elated but exhausted Parvel said afterward.
“The ball was not supposed to be to me.” McPherson said about the play. “Ethan made some guys miss, I was in the right spot at right time, I saw the ball and just dove for it.” McPherson concluded.
“I was debating whether to go for the two point play or not as we got closer to end zone. I said heck with it after seeing that last play, what do we got to lose.” a Victorious Coach Fairclough stated.
Emmaus now 2-0 in the EPC will host 0-2 Whitehall Friday night at EPSD Stadium. Whitehall coming off a loss to Easton 41-21. Nazareth 1-1 in the EPC will travel to J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown Saturday night to face Allentown Central Catholic 1-1 after being man-handled by Parkland 52-0.
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