Rovers end two years of frustration with Emmaus

FROM THE MORNING CALL

For two years and three quarters, Easton's offense had been stymied by Emmaus.

The Green Hornets blanked the Red Rovers 21-0 in 2008, edged them 7-6 in 2009 and were ahead 13-9 entering the fourth quarter Friday night.

Finally, Easton put two years' worth of frustration behind it with a pair of final-period touchdowns to spoil Emmaus' homecoming with a 23-13 Lehigh Valley Conference victory.

The win solidified the Red Rovers' (6-1, 5-1 LVC) positioning near the top of the Dstrict 11 playoff rankings, and also allowed them to remove a thorn from their side.


"I'm very happy for the seniors because you never want to go through your career not being able to beat a certain team," Easton coach Steve Shiffert said. "It was especially good to see [quarterback] Justin Pacchioli do well because he got his baptism over here two years ago and they put it to him pretty good."

Pacchioli hit 5-foot-7 flanker Tyler Holjes for the go-ahead touchdown — a 5-yard toss — with 7:19 remaining.

After Emmaus (4-3, 3-3) went three-and-out, the Rovers put the game away on Zack Bambary's 32-yard burst with 4:35 to go.

Bambary led a balanced Rovers rushing game with 85 yards on 15 carries. Pacchioli and James Middleton combined for 120 more yards on the ground.

"We just said 'We can't lose to these guys again' and found a way to come out on top," Pacchioli said. "My first game was here two years ago and it didn't go well. Emmaus always comes to play when they play us. There's a good rivalry between us and it's always a good football game."

Emmaus was dominated on the stat sheet, and often at the line of scrimmage, but the Green Hornets took advantage of an Easton fumble to take the lead with five minutes left in the first half.

Nicholas Klass' fumble recovery set up Emmaus at the Easton 23. A pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 10 and three straight Joe Williams carries produced a touchdown.

The Green Hornets proved opportunistic again in the third period when the Rovers attempted a fake punt.

The Emmaus defense rose up for the stop, gave the ball to the offense at the Easton 38 and the running of Williams and Nate Fick's 22-yard TD pass to a wide-open Brian Velasco gave the Hornets the four-point lead they took into the final period.

"We got the lead, but we couldn't sustain it," Emmaus coach Joe Bottiglieri said. "You have to sustain drives and add to a lead like that, but we weren't able to do it against them. Our kids played real hard for three quarters, but it just got away from us. Easton is a real good football team. Defensively, they're probably the best team we've played."

In wind gusts of nearly 40 miles per hour, Emmaus couldn't throw the ball effectively and Easton shut down its ground attack.

The bottom line for Easton was that unlike two weeks ago when they never could stop the bleeding in a 17-14 loss to Whitehall, this time it responded well to adversity.

"It was again turnovers and penalties that hurt us in the first half," Shiffert said. "And then the fake punt try backfired on us in the third quarter, but give our kids credit for bouncing back. If we can just hold on to the football, we can be a good football team. But you're only as good as your last carry."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-easton-emmaus-football-1015-20101015,0,2095957.story