Emmaus’ explosive offense erupted and sank Easton 42-21 last Friday night at Cottingham Stadium.

Quarterback Jake Fotta led the Green Hornet attack by hitting 8 of 13 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. The talented senior ran also for three other scores, gaining 65 yards on 11 carries. While the senior signal-caller was great, a wide receiver was the evening’s offensive star.

To say Dylan Darville’s 2022 season has been good would be an understatement. Coach Harold Fairclough has called Darville “our game-changer,” and there was no doubt coming into the season the basketball player would improve off a solid junior season and make a contribution to the Emmaus offense. But it’s doubtful the coaching staff anticipated just how lethal the talented senior would be.

The tall, athletic wideout has snagged 45 passes for a staggering 835 yards and 10 TDs. Last Friday night he took the bite out of the Red Rovers, catching eight passes for 223 yards and touchdown passes of 74 and 34 yards.

Emmaus (8-1, 8-1 EPC) scored first on a left-end power sweep by Fotta for a 7-0 first quarter lead. The score culminated a drive featuring four and five receivers on patterns, which placed pressure on the Rover linebackers and secondary.

Easton (3-6, 3-6 EPC) came into the game desperate, hoping to win their first home game and salvage a disappointing season with a win over Emmaus and in the season finale against Nazareth to go .500 and sneak possibly into the playoffs. Their offensive game plan involved a heavy dose of running back Aidan Hutchison. Behind solid blocking the young man delivered, gobbling up 154 yards on 24 carries and scoring Easton’s first touchdown on a one-yard run for a 7-7 score in the second quarter. He scored his second touchdown of the game later that period.

But Emmaus was not interested in being upset. The Hornets came into this contest having lost to Easton in each of their last three meetings with the Rovers. The Hornet seniors were determined not to make it four.

The Fotta-to-Darville connection and two Fotta TD runs of five and 15 yards gave Emmaus a 28-14 lead at halftime.

The second Fotta-to-Darville connection increased the lead to 35-14 in the third period, and the Hornets put the game away on a six-yard TD run by Josiah Williams to go up 42-14 in the fourth quarter. Easton’s JuJu Fears provided the game’s final score on a 20-yard touchdown run.

John Wassel led the Hornets in tackles, securing nine. Reilly Bechtel had nice game with six tackles and three assists with aggressive play. Two defensive linemen - Carlos Koduah and E.J. Boney - deserve credit also with inspired play and four tackles each. The Emmaus defense neutralized the Easton passing attack, but had trouble with Hutchison and gave up more than five yards a carry also to teammate J.V. Johnson.