Dylan Darville had a senior season to remember on the football field. He helped lead Emmaus to an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South Division crown and the top seed in the District 11 6A tournament and an appearance in the semifinal game. Darville was named All-EPC First Team and has earned NCAA Division I scholarship offers to play in college.

So once the fall season wrapped up in mid-November, Darville quickly turned his attention to the basketball season and helping head coach Steve Yoder and his program.

“It was definitely a process transitioning from football to basketball,” said Darville. “There is a big difference between basketball and football shape, so it took me a little bit to get my legs under me, but I feel great now. Coach Yoder and the rest of the staff does a great job of getting the rest of the team and I prepared for the season in terms of conditioning.”

The Green Hornets have had a strong start to the 2022-23 regular season, winning six of their first seven games, including all three in the EPC so far.

“We have been playing all right, but the way we see it is that we should be undefeated right now,” Darville said. “We lost a tough one in the first game of the season that we felt we should have won. That being said, we try not to focus on the wins and losses too much, especially at the start of the season. Our main focus is to get better individually and as a team so that when it’s playoff time we are prepared to win a championship.

“Last year we started the season on a historic 10-0 record and obviously had a really poor end to the season, so we understand how important it is to not get caught up in early season success. At the end of the day, we still feel that we are far from our best basketball and we are just trying to use these games to improve as a team.”

Like during the football season, Darville is one of the leaders of the basketball team and is a major contributor. He is currently averaging around 15 points per game and is also a strong defender. He credits playing football for his success on the court this season.

“I think playing football has helped me on the court with physicality and with being more explosive,” said Darville. “Basketball is a physical sport and I think the more you embrace the contact the more successful you will be and football has helped me embrace that part of the sport.

“Not to mention hitting the weight room for football has helped me push guys around a little bit easier on the court and has allowed me to guard more positions. Football has also helped with my speed/explosiveness and my movement in general. So many of the movements/footwork that are used in football are mirrored in basketball. So, training for football has made my movements on the court more fluid and quicker.”

Emmaus has two conference games this week before the Christmas holiday. The Green Hornets are at Freedom Tuesday and host East Stroudsburg South on Thursday.