Two shutouts and 75 unanswered points later, the Emmaus Green Hornets football team is 2-0 and tied atop the Lehigh Valley Conference with Easton and Nazareth.

A 40-0 dismantling of Germantown in Week 1, and a 35-0 rain-shortened game last Saturday afternoon, has the Green Hornets set to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2008. Emmaus has its sights set on the Vikings from Central Catholic, whom they haven't beat since a 17-14 decision in 08. Last year it was rather one-sided as the Vikings handled the Green Hornets 46-7.

"It's always good to start off a season with two wins, no question," said head coach Joe Bottiglieri. "We're just trying to get better each week. The kids are excited and they're playing with confidence. They know that we gotta keep going because we need to improve. And with the conference schedule, games will get tougher week by week."

A showdown with Central, a 2010 state champion, and 2011 state semifinalist, will be the first true test for Emmaus. What will help their cause is the graduations of Brendan Nosovitch and Kevin Gulyas, who connected to put up big numbers against nearly everyone they played.

There is still one key contributor remaining from that state championship team two years ago, running back Colin McDermott, and Bottiglieri knows his Green Hornets defense will need to slow him down to have a chance to win.

"Well we have to stop him, there's no question about that," said Bottiglieri. "We at least need to slow him down. He has to be one of the top running backs in the league. He's a big key to their offense. We have our work cut out for us."

With a new head coach and a new starting quarterback at Central, Emmaus will look to bring some pressure and rattle the backfield a bit.

"We're going to pick and choose our time when we're going to pressure the quarterback," said Bottiglieri. "We have to be careful when we blitz, however, because they have some capable receivers who could beat us. We don't want to give up any big plays."

On the offensive end of the ball, Emmaus will look to continue the ground and pound method of running the football. The backs have contributed to a high percentage of the touchdowns for the Green Hornets offense.

"We're going to try and rotate the running backs as much as possible," Bottiglieri said.

Daniel Velasco, Kevin Nguyen, Emmanuel Doelue, Tom Bisko and Wyllim Miller all have seen important touches in the backfield.

Bottiglieri also said he has seen improved play from quarterback Andrew Kerson, starting with the Becahi game last weekend.

Emmaus will look for revenge and to continue an undefeated season Friday night at 7 p.m. at East Penn School District stadium.