Emmaus flies by Becahi
Green Hornets score 28 unanswered points after delay for a drone
In one of the more bizarre and unfortunate situations to occur in this 2022 high school football season, Friday night’s Bethlehem Catholic-Emmaus Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South game was delayed twice by a drone hovering over Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.
The second delay of about a half-hour sent both teams into the locker room.
The drone finally left the area, but Emmaus replaced it with an aerial display that was only a nuisance to the Golden Hawks.
Senior quarterback Jake Fotta shook off a fumble that resulted in a 90-yard return by Jamel Clements that produced Becahi’s lone
score to throw three second-quarter touchdown passes that sent the Green Hornets on to a 42-12 win.
Fotta, who also ran for a touchdown, finished 11-for-17 for 162 yards passing and
“Stuff like that happens,” Fotta said of the drone situation. “It’s adversity. The coaches did a great job handling it. We went back to the locker room and there was no music or anything. We just kept our heads on straight and we put together another scheme. We were just really focused.”
Fotta said everybody executed, especially the offensive line. As for giving up the ball on a play that resulted in one of the few highlights of the night for the Golden Hawks, he said there were no excuses.
“That was totally on me,” he said. “I have to hold on to the ball better. I was going down and [Jamel Clements] just stripped it. I kept my head up and we all kept our heads up and just kept going on. We’re not complacent. We’re not satisfied. We just have to take one week at a time and keep doing what we’re doing.”
Fotta hit Ryan DeJohn for one touchdown and then found Dylan Darville for pair of scoring tosses as Emmaus opened up a 28-6 halftime lead. The Green Hornets (5-0) then added a Tylik Jarvis touchdown run in the third period to extend the lead to 29 before Becahi got its first offensive touchdown of the night. Ramel Terry had a 9-yard scoring run.
However, he was on the wrong end of a scoring play later in the final period as DeJohn ripped the ball from Terry and went on a 42-yard fumble return to close the scoring with 4:47 left.
“Tonight I think we finally started to put it all together offensively and defensively and we even played well on special teams,” Emmaus coach Harold Fairclough said. “The kids did a really great job of staying focused in the locker room [during the drone delay]. They were ticked. They wanted to get going and get after them. The locker room was nice and quiet and they just focused and got locked in.”
Emmaus outgained Bethlehem Catholic 235-16 in its dominant first half, 374-151 overall, and also won the special teams battle. The Green Hornets took advantage of a 56-yard Fotta punt that pinned Becahi at its 1 and after a threeand-out and a 24-yard Becahi punt,
Emmaus cashed in with a 25-yard scoring drive.
“Jake has flipped the field for us a lot; he has done that a bunch,” Fairclough said. “He takes it serious and has done a great job with it.”
Fotta credits special teams coaches Ramie Moussa and Rob Sawicki for their help.
“They do a great job of putting the right players on the field and having the right scheme,” Fotta said. “Also a shoutout to my eighthgrade middle school Coach [Mark] Keeley. He taught me how to punt and I’ve just carried it over into high school.”
Also setting things up were Darville’s two interceptions, part of one of his best overall nights of the season. Overall, Emmaus had four takeaways as Jackson Lake had a late pick in the end zone.
“My adrenaline was going tonight,” Darville said. “We were frustrated with that drone delay, but then we got into the locker room and started talking about things. We got excited to get back on the field.”
Asked what he enjoyed more, the offensive touchdowns or defensive picks, Darville deferred to the defense.
“Defense first, so I’ll say the picks,” Darville said. “Our goal is always to attack the ball and get those takeaways. Our defense is our identity.”
Mario Landino and DeJohn combined for 15 tackles and EJ Boney had two tackles for loss, including his fourth sack of the season.
Jarvis, who entered the game sixth in the EPC South in rushing, finished with 127 yards for Emmaus and the Green Hornets powered its way to 209 yards on the ground overall.
Bethlehem Catholic built some positives behind the running of junior Jacob Sutton, who had 75 yards, 63 in the second half, but it was not nearly enough to get Becahi back in the game and the Golden Hawks fell to 3-2.
What’s next
Emmaus returns to East Penn School District Stadium Friday to face Stroudsburg. Becahi hosts unbeaten Northampton in a 3 p.m. Saturday game.
The series
The win was Emmaus’ fourth straight over Becahi, but the Golden Hawks still lead the series 27-13. The series began in 1932.
In last year’s 41-3 Emmaus win, the Green Hornets had three TD passes by Josiah Williams and three TD runs by Jared Groller and outgained the Golden Hawks 470-214.
SCORING SUMMARY
Emmaus 7- 21- 7- 7 — 42
Becahi6-0-6—0—12
FIRST QUARTER
E: Jake Fotta 5 run (Owen Garcia kick), 3:48 (Drive: 8 plays, 63 yards, 3:48)
BC: Jamel Clements 90 fumble return (pass failed), 0:48
SECOND QUARTER
E: Ryan DeJohn 3 pass from Jake Fotta (Garcia kick) 9:01 (Drive: 3 plays, 25 yards, 1:32)
E: Dylan Darville 13 pass from Jake Fotta (Garcia kick), 4:37 (Drive: 5 plays, 33 yards, 3:51)
E: Darville 6 pass from Jake Fotta (Garcia kick), 2:02 (Drive: 2 plays, 19 yards, 1:00)
THIRD QUARTER
E: Tylik Jarvis 16 run, 3:42 (Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards,
4:38)
BC: Rahmel Terry 7 run (pass failed), 0:17 (Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards, 3:20)
FOURTH QUARTER
E: DeJohn 42 fumble return (Garcia kick), 4:47
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING
Emmaus (34-212): Tylik Jarvis 19-130, TD; Jake Fotta 7-50, TD; Josiah Williams 6-32; Jasiyah Banks 2-0.
Becahi (26-115): Jacob Sutton 10-75; Rahmel
Terry 11-51, TD; Luke Thomas 3-(-12); Antonio Ramos-Dobbins 1-5; Zyaire Morris 1-(-4).
PASSING
Emmaus: Jake Fotta 11-17-0, 162 yards, 3 TD; Josiah Williams 0-1-1.
Becahi: Luke Thomas 7-20-3, 36 yards.
RECEIVING
Emmaus: Dylan Darvillee 5-77, 2 TD; Rafael Terrero 3-57; Chase fotta 1-24; Ryan DeJohn 1-3, TD; Donavan DeCargo 1-1.
Becahi: Jaiden Ellis-Lahey 2-22; Rahmel 2-12; DJ Kelly 1-7; Zyaire Morris 1-(-1); Jacob Sutton 1-(-4).