If Larry Holmes is the Easton Assassin, then a young man named Marcus Williams, who plays football for the Easton Red Rovers, must be the Easton Bullet.

The Rovers (3-3) accomplished three things against Emmaus Green Hornets in their District 11 Class 6A quarterfinal last Friday night at E.P.S.D. Stadium.

First, they shut down running back Brandon Camire, pulling the plug on the Emmaus rushing attack. Second, in the trenches the Rover defensive line and linebackers got the best of the head knocking. Lastly, the boys from Easton were mentally tough when it really mattered.

But it was Williams who shot down Emmaus’ season as the Rovers, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, advanced to the semifinals with a 28-23 victory over Emmaus, the No. 2 seed.

“We didn’t play up to our ability and that is disappointing,” said Emmaus head coach Harold Fairclough. “We just didn’t play our best up front and they did a good job. Give them credit.”

The loss was the Hornets’ first of the year. After the game, Fairclough had a few messages for his team.

“I thanked the seniors for their leadership. They did everything we asked them to do,” Fairclough said. “I told the our returning players this is the greatest time of the year. You got to love it. I added don’t forget the feeling you have. Don’t let that leave you when we get back at it next year.”

Easton entered the game with a 2-3 record and without star running back Nahjee Adams, who was out due to injury. With Williams they didn’t miss a beat. He took the game’s opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to set the tone for the game.

He did the same thing in the second half, and this time it was game’s turning point.

With 2:36 left in the third quarter, Emmaus settled for a 26-yard Alex Orlando field goal and took a 17-14 lead.

Williams took the ensuing kickoff down sideline for a 96-yard touchdown to give the Rovers back the lead, 21-17.

He scored the other two Easton touchdowns - one on a 65-yard run up the gut in the second quarter and the game winner on a 21-yard inside screen pass on a third-and-16 from Cole Transue in the fourth.

“It was a hell of an effort,” Fairclough said in summarizing Williams’ performance.

Williams’ exploits deserve top billing, but Emmaus did not play a bad game overall. They dominated plays run (78-43), total yards (343-197) and first downs (16-5).

With the running attack extinct, quarterback Jake Fotta had little choice to but to fuel the Hornet offensive attack. He threw the ball 46 times, completing 20, for 339 yards for two touchdowns and two interceptions. The first scoring toss was a 57-yarder to Tanner Ritter to tie the game 7-7.

The second was a missile to Chad Newhard on a slant pattern for the game’s final score with 1:16 remaining in the game.

“Jake had a great game,” Fairclough said. “We asked a sophomore to throw the ball 46 times.”

Desperate, the Hornets successfully executed an onside kick when Jameel Sanders fell on the ball at the Easton 30 with just over one minute left. The never-say-die Hornets gradually acquired turf to the Easton 8-yard-line before a Fotta pass was picked off by Williams with 13 seconds remaining.

Ritter, who was superb this abbreviated season, caught seven passes for 163 and that touchdown. He also did a solid job covering Easton receivers. In fact the entire Emmaus secondary played well, giving up just 52 yards through the air. But on this night, Emmaus was unable to control the line of scrimmage more often than not. As a result, they could not maintain any real consistency. Further, the kickoff team missed tackles on Williams’ kickoff returns. To have it happen once was disconcerting. To have happen twice proved deadly.

“It hurts with everything we put into the season,” said Fairclough said of the loss. “To come out and not be at our best is disappointing.”

Make no mistake this night belonged to the Easton Red Rovers and specifically, to a bullet named Marcus William.