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Nazareth Takes Down Unbeaten Emmaus On Senior Night.

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| October 15, 2022

Solid Effort Gives Blue Eagles Some Measure of Retribution From Last Years District Loss.

NAZARETH- The Nazareth Blue Eagles football team knew the task at hand Friday night in front of a standing room only crowd Andrew Leh Stadium Friday night. It was there last November when the Emmaus Green Hornets ended their season 20-19 in a District XI playoff game. The Blue Eagles exacted some revenge for that loss with a gutsy 20-14 win on Senior night over the unbeaten Hornets in a key Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South contest.

The game did not start the way Nazareth would have like as on the opening play of the contest Jake Fotta connected with Chase Fotta for a 63 yard strike to give the visitors a first down at the Eagles 14. However the defense tightened up at and forced Emaaus to attempt a 31 yard field goal, that struck the right upright and bounced away.

Chris Bugbee then made the first of two field goals on the night. The first from 43 yards out to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.

The only other score in the first half came on a 33 yard pass from Jake Fotta to a wide open Tylik Jarvis on a fourth and six call with 11:35 left before intermission. Emmaus had a chance to score right before the half ended but Nolan Lobb picked off a Fotta pass in the end zone with 10 seconds left. The Blue Eagles took a knee as both teams headed for the locker room.

The third quarter started with Nazareth taking the second half kickoff and went on a 60 yard 7 play drive. With Sonny Sasso finding Frankie Mroz, who was well covered, for a 20 yard touchdown with just under two minutes taken off the clock to make it 10-7 with a Bugbee converting the PAT. Sasso finished the night throwing for 143 yards on 12 of 19 passing with the one touchdown and no interceptions.

Emmaus could not sustain a drive on their next possession as the Nazareth defense stiffened and forced a three-and-outand the Green Hornets had to punt. Taking over at the 29, Nazareth went on time consuming drive by running on eight of the nine play drive. The only pass was a 44 yard completion from Sasso to Mason Kuehner. Then from the one Sasso took it in to push the lead to 17-7 with 3:48 left in the third quarter.

The Hornets were not going to go down easy, as they went on a 67 yard drive of their own. Fotta appeared to have a touchdown at the end of the quarter but offsetting penalties set the ball back at Nazareth’s 14 yard line and an un-timed down was called and Fotta hit his receiver at the one yard as the fourth quarter started.

On the first play of the final twelve minutes commenced, RB Josiah Williams crashed over the left side for the score cutting the lead to 17-14.

With no timeouts available, Emmaus made a last ditch effort to try to win the game a couple completions got the ball inside the 20 but a Fotta pass to Rafael Terrero was completed down the middle but he was tackled inbounds as the clock ran out before the Hornets could lineup for one more play. Fotta completed 21 of 29 passes for 257 yards with one touchdown and one interception on the night.

With the win leaves only Northampton (EPC North) as the only unbeaten team left in the EPC. The Hornets and Blue Eagles are now atop the standings as the onle two team with one loss. Nazareth now holds the tiebreaker.

Emmaus(7-1) will be on the road next week at Cottingham Stadium to face the Red Rovers of Easton(3-5) Friday night, Easton took down Liberty by a score of 26-7. Emmaus has dropped three straight against the Rovers.

Nazareth(7-1) will also be on the road to face the Zephyrs of Whitehall(5-3) next Friday. The Zephs defeated Allentown Central Catholic on Friday 37-6.

Here is what Nazareth coach Tom Falzone had to say after the 20-14 win.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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