After each team's first possession, last Friday night's Emmaus-Easton game looked like it was going to be a slugfest between two teams with powerful running games.

But after a three-play touchdown drive to open the game, the Hornet offense failed to produce any more points against a stout and aggressive Red Rover defense.

Easton (2-0) scored five unanswered touchdowns over the rest of the game for a 35-7 win at Cottingham Stadium.

"They're a really good team," said Emmaus head coach Randy Cuthbert. "I don't think we helped ourselves all night. I think we made a lot of mistakes. You can't do that against a good team.

"It's disappointing, but it's one game. We've got to regroup and get back to work."

Emmaus took a 7-0 lead on Andrew Davidson's 57-yard touchdown on the third play of the game.

Easton answered with a nine-play touchdown drive that tied the game with 7:70 left in the first quarter.

After that, Easton's defensive front clamped down. Emmaus had trouble gaining yards on first down and was forced to go to it's passing game, which is a work in progress through the second week of the season.

Emmaus ran eight first-down plays in its next four possessions. Only one resulted in a gain of more than three yards. One resulted in an interception and another went for negative yardage.

"It was a good start but we got in a lot of situations we don't want to be in," said Cuthbert. "We had negative plays, botched snaps on the shotgun, the killer turnover they ran back to the one. After that initial drive we began digging a hole we couldn't get ourselves out of."

Emmaus' third possession lasted just one play as Easton's Greg Albertson picked off a Logan Kolber pass and took it 53 yards to the Hornet 1-yard line. One play later The Rovers' Dalvyn Reynolds scored on the next play for a 14-7 lead with just over two minutes left in the second quarter.

Easton went up 21-7 in the second quarter on a seven-play drive after an Emmaus punt.

A Hornet fumble gave Easton the ball back near midfield. The Rovers drove to the 9-yard line before Emmaus' Nolan Marcks picked off a pass in the end zone with 2:44 left in the first half.

The Hornets (1-1) moved the ball on the ensuing possession, earning four first downs on their first six plays. But Easton' defense finally stiffened at the 43 yard line before a turnover on downs ended the drive.

The Rovers went up 28-7 on a 44-yard Reynolds run with 5:14 left in the third quarter. They put the nail in the coffin with a 69-yard punt return touchdown from Shane Simpson, Easton's All-League running back who was limited to only nine carries because of cramping on the humid night. The return capped the score at 35-7.

"Any special teams touchdown is a killer," said Cuthbert. "We didn't want to get the ball near Simpson. We didn't want to give him any unnecessary touches."

After the game's opening possessions, Easton dominated the line of scrimmage, opening holes on offense and getting into Emmaus' backfield on defense.

Senior linebacker Nick Tone seemed to get through the Hornet offensive line untouched several times.

"We had a hard time blocking him all night," said Cuthbert. "He was good against us last year. He's fast and athletic and tough and I thought he played a great game. He gave our guys fits."

Emmaus' Davidson was the leading rusher in the game with 129 yards on 13 carries with a limited offensive role due to his importance to the team's defense. His performance was one of the few bright spots for Emmaus.

"We have to get better," said Cuthbert. "Hopefully our guys are going to learn from this. It's a combination of them playing well and being really good and us not playing well. It's disappointing. We had a big game and we didn't play well."

Cuthbert added that Easton could be one of the top 10 teams in the state when it's all said and done. While disappointed about the loss, the first-year Hornet mentor knows his team can still achieve a lot this year if it cleans up some of the mistakes.

He also pointed out that he is not unhappy with his players effort.

"It's not a lack of effort from anybody," he said. "It's just a lack of execution."

The Hornets will host Freedom this week before heading to Nazareth on Sept. 19.