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Emmaus exacts revenge on Bethlehem Freedom

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| November 4, 2023

Bethlehem- In a rematch from 2 weeks ago during EPC conference play, Emmaus emerges victorious this time over the Patriots of Freedom.  Finally, after not having beaten Freedom in the playoffs since 2016, the Hornets managed to finally accomplish that feat once again this evening.

Freedom won the coin toss and deferred to the 2nd half.  Emmaus chose to receive the opening kick and had a great return out to the 38 yardline.  They wasted no driving down the field with their sophomore QB Jerek Cooper at the helm to start the game.  Solid rushing gains by Jasiyah Banks and Cooper got the offense moving and then Cooper was able to find Daniel Duggan for a huge 21 yard grab which took the Hornet offense down to the Freedom 13 yardline.  Duggan was slow to get up on the play and was attended to by the athletic training staff on the sideline following the play.  The Freedom defense would stiffen up after this and on 4th down from the Freedom 7 yardline, Emmaus would come up just short of converting the 4th down via a fake field goal attempt.  Having just gotten a huge momentum swing in their favor, Freedom drove right down the field thanks largely to a 52 yard jaunt by senior RB Noah Pierre.

A few plays later Freedom QB Chase Walker (12-25, 95 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT) would find WR Justin Peluso (4 rec, 39 yds, 1 TD) for the first score of the game to put Freedom up 7-0 with 2:42 left in the 1st quarter.

The following drive by Emmaus would start out with a bang as Hornets QB Jerek Cooper (9-16, 125 yds) would find Cole Moreau (4 rec, 72 yards) for a 20 yard  gain to start the drive.  The Hornets’ running game would take over the rest of the drive and Emmaus would cap it off with a 42 yard field goal by Will Buck which looked like it would have been good from 52!  This would bring the score to 7-3 still in favor of Freedom with just under 9 minutes remaining in the first half.

The following 3 posessions would see the Hornet and Patriot defenses really lock down the opposing offenses and only allow 2 first downs total during this time.   After this defensive show, the Hornet offense was finally able to get something going once again and kicker Will Buck came through with another FG. This time, his 27 yard attempt was a line-drive of a kick which needed a little help from the upright to sneak through to bring the Hornets within 1 point, 7-6 , with just under 1 minute left in the opening half. There would be no more scoring in the first half as Freedom would let the clock run out and take the 1 point lead to the locker room.

The 2nd half would begin with Freedom receiving the kick and proceeding to go 3 and out.  On the ensuing Hornet offensive possession , Cooper would find Cole Moreau on consecutive plays to push the Hornets deep in to Patriot territory. They would finally find the end-zone via a 10 yard rush by Senior QB Josiah Williams 3 plays later to put Emmaus up 13-7 with just under 9 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The Patriots however would not go quietly in to this cold night.  They would methodically drive down the field on their next possession and on the 13th play of the drive get in to the end-zone on a 3 yard run by Aaron Beete (22yds, 1 TD) to put Freedom up 14-13 with just under a minute left in the 3rd quarter.

The final stanza of this opening round playoff game would be an absolute whirlwind.  The following series would see the Hornet offense rush their way down the field on 6 consecutive running plays via a combination of attempts by Jerek Cooper,  Jasiyah Banks (8 rushes, 33 yards), Josiah Williams (11 rushes, 59 yards, 1TD). The drive would be capped of with a pass from Williams to Cooper to put Emmaus back on top 19-13 after a failed 2pt attempt.

The Patriot offense would take the field and were quickly stymied by the Hornets’ defense who forced a turnover on downs with 6:55 left in the game.  The Hornet offense would slowly chew up clock with 2 first downs and then on a 4th down of their own, Josiah Williams would pooch punt and have it downed at the Freedom 1 yardline.  The Freedom offense, now out of timeouts, took the field and looked to go 99 yards to win the game.  After 2 quick first downs through the air this began to look more and more like a possibility.  However, Jah’khi Daves had other ideas and with just about 2 minutes left in the game, sealed the win for Emmaus with a fantastic 1-handed interception along the Freedom sideline.

The Patriot defense, without any timeouts left, was left to just watch as the Hornets were able to line up in the proverbial “victory formation” to run out the clock and finally capture a District 11 playoff win over the Patriots of Freedom.

After the game I was able to track down Jah’khi Daves and speak with him about his game clinching interception. “I just saw the ball and tried to seal the game. Don’t think we’ve beaten these guys since 2016 so I was trying to do it for my teammates”. When I asked about their upcoming matchup with Parkland, Jah’khi said “They’re tough opponents, but I think as a team we are going to prepare and possibly beat them.”  Aside from Jah’khi, I was also able to speak with Josiah Williams who when asked about his new role with the offense said “I think it’s awesome for the team, our coaches are taking advantage of both of our skillsets, and as you guys saw it’s not like one of us isn’t going to see the field at all, I mean I even threw a touchdown to Jerek.  They’re doing a great job and we’re having fun with it.” I also spoke with him about the upcoming matchup with Parkland and he commented that “They’re a good team, we saw that last week.  Coach is going to put together a great gameplan for us and we just have to execute and trust in them and eachother. The work ethic from the team is definitely there.”

With this win, Emmaus draws Parkland in the next round of the District 11 6A playoffs next week.  The Trojans of Parkland are fresh off a victory of their own this week as well; a 56-0 drubbing of Williamsport.

 

 

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