Emmaus needed to play nearly a perfect game to stay with Whitehall last week. And probably would have needed a flawless performance, or some Zephyr mistakes, to beat one of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference's best teams.

The Hornets had just the right game plan and executed it as well as they have all season. But it still wasn't enough. A late touchdown gave Whitehall a 48-41 win. But even in defeat, Emmaus proved it can play with the top teams in the league.

"I've never been as proud of a group of guys after a game," said Emmaus head coach Randy Cuthbert. "We had opportunities to win. You can't ask for anything more. We made some mistakes, sure. But overall that was their best effort. Great, great team effort."

The Hornets came out in their rhino package and stayed in it until the waning seconds of the game. They were able to mount long, time-consuming drives that kept Whitehall's potent offense off the field.

"We made the decision after last week that offensively this is who we are," said Cuthbert. "We lost two excellent tailbacks. We've got Andy [Davidson]. We've got a line and tight ends and we've got a couple backs that are blocking. We've had to be creative with our goal-line offense because we were in it every play until the last few plays. That's what we're going to do right now because that's what our kids do well."

Davidson had his third straight game of over 200 rushing yards, finishing with 286 yards on 40 carries, including five touchdowns.

Davidson took his first carry for a 70-yard touchdown that gave his team the early lead. Whitehall matched it, but the Emmaus' workhorse scored on his team's next drive to retake the lead.

After Whitehall grabbed a 14-13 lead, Emmaus put together a 21-play drive that ate up over 12 minutes (that's a full quarter in high school football) before Davidson plunged in for a one-yard score late in the first half. Logan Kober hit Kyle Carraher for the two-point conversion to give Emmaus a 21-14 lead.

Whitehall responded by returning the ensuing kick off 83 yards for a touchdown. The Hornets went back in front when Tom Wagner intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown, giving his team a 27-21 lead with 1:49 left in the first half.

The Zephyrs answered with a quick touchdown drive to tie the game heading into halftime. They got the ball to start the second half and drove for another touchdown that gave them a 34-27 lead with 9:16 left in the third quarter.

Emmaus came back with a 10-play drive that included its first pass of the night (a completion from Kober to Sal Pagano) and ended on a 32-yard Davidson run to pay dirt that tied the game at 34-34.

After trading punts, Whitehall went back in front on a four-play drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Gianni Sinatore to Jacob Buskirk with 8:30 left in the game.

The Hornets tied it on their next possession, going 78 yards in nine plays, including a 24-yard Kober-to-Pagano pass. Davidson put the ball in the end zone with a 9-yard carry with 3:57 left in the game.

Emmaus had a chance to take a late lead after Sammy Nguyen recovered an unintentional onside kick. But after moving the ball 43 yards to the 3-yard line, the Zephyrs blocked a 21-yard field goal attempt.

The missed field goal put Whitehall on its own 20-yard line to start the game-winning drive with 1:35 left in the game. The Zephs went all 80 yards in six plays, capping it with Sinatore's one-yard run with six seconds left.

"They played great," said Cuthbert of his players. "They gave it everything they had. They left everything on the field. We came a little bit short, which is disappointing, but I look at the effort of our kids and I'm really proud of them."

While Davidson racked up the big numbers, Minnich (47 yards on nine carries) and Pagano (27 yards on five carries) chipped in with some key carries. And Kober's three completions on five attempts was enough to let defenses know that the Hornets aren't afraid to throw at times.

"It's the most plays I've ever had out of a goal-line set," said Cuthbert. "I thought Alex Minnich and Sal Pagano did a real good job. We tried to run some counters to keep them honest. We're not going to throw a lot but when we do we've got to make some plays."

The Hornets tried to keep the ball out of the hands of Whitehall's offense, which includes Penn State-bound running back Saquon Barkley and a few other very good athletes. The Hornets even let the play clock run down when on offense to keep the Zephyr offense off the field.

"That was the plan," said Cuthbert. "We wanted to try and shorten the game and keep the ball away from them. They have so many skill guys on offense, we knew we were going to have a hard time stopping them. That was one way to counteract them, by holding the ball and staying in the game."

Emmaus (5-4) moves on to its season finale against Parkland (7-2) this Friday.

The Trojans have already locked up a district playoff berth. The Hornets need a win and some help from other teams to get into districts, but could certainly have a shot at returning to the Eastern Conference playoffs this year.